


Strawberry Punch

by Synxailla



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossdressing, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Genius Dick, Genius Wally, M/M, Male Slash, Mission Fic, Pre-Invasion, Pre-Slash, Season 1, Team Dynamics, Undercover, looking back at this now I understand why I cried so much at the s2 finale, sorry for the awkward transitions, what I lack in smooth transition I make up for with LOTS of dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 19:56:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 38,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1197468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synxailla/pseuds/Synxailla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally never wanted to go on the stupid undercover mission in the first place! Now he has to deal with the problem of constantly reminding himself the gorgeous being beside him is off limits. Way off… Someone must’ve spiked the fruit juice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome Back to Happy Harbor

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Nope, not mine, the series and characters belong to big-shot American entertainment gurus, and this story earns me no monetary profit either. I appreciate the non-sue-ers :)

 

Strawberry Punch

A Young Justice fanfiction

 

 

 

By Synxailla

.

Part One: Welcome Back to Happy Harbor

.

The phrase ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ earned its right to be placed on a higher pedestal in Wally’s books.

Yeah sure, every average fifteen-year-old holds the last day of school for the week in a special place in his heart. But Wally wasn’t a typical fifteen-year-old, so the fondness he held for Fridays was also not of the typical kind.

There were a number of things Wally was thankful of for Fridays. The day marks the transition from Wally West’s normal (mundane, and oh so very slow) life into something else; something much, much more awesome. The world turns into a blur and he leaves his normal boring life behind to don the identity of the amazing Kid Flash.

And ever since the Team was formed, Kid Flash came to see Fridays in a whole new light.

Every Friday after school, Wally would race to _the_ Mountain in high spirits and uncontainable excitement. Much like how he’s doing right at the moment. With his civilian clothes stuffed into his backpack, Kid Flash zoomed by the streets, heading for the city limits of Central with a big grin on his face. And who could’ve blamed him? What’s not to like about being part of Young Justice?

Their not-so-secret hideout was awesome; complete with state of the art training equipments, spacious workout rooms and the all important, oh-so-superb, fully stocked fridge. Most missions got dished out on them during weekends and school holidays, but they make up for their low frequency by leveling up in adventure levels.

A real-life android as a den-mother was in the same page of being freakin’ cool. Wally was in the middle of a challenge to figure out if the red metal-man was capable of simulating laughter. So far, it was proven that Red Tornado didn’t appreciate hilarious jokes and wasn’t ticklish, (the next stages of the experiment were put on hold until a working way of bypassing the electrocution response-mechanism of the specimen could be discovered.)

Having Black Canary as a regular trainer was nothing short of wicked. Things always got _hot_ when she took off her jacket to train them in hand-to-hand. Speaking of which, he really needed to protest that, since he was pretty sure part of the reason he kept “failing” sooner than the others was due to her drool-worthy distraction. (Yeah right, like he’d ever willingly stop her from displaying her figure in front of him)

But of course, working in real missions alongside his friends was the real highlight of being in the Team. It’s why the Team was formed in the first place. And what a team they were.

There weren’t any other guys Kid Flash would rather kick evil butt with. Including Speed- _er_ Red Arrow of course, but the archer’s like an unofficial member of the Team anyway; he can be dragged over for movie nights when he’s not so moody and they work on missions together occasionally…

While running, Kid Flash saw a girl on a bicycle rushing towards a tree. From the panic in her face, her breaks seemed to be not working. He zipped over and stopped the bike, the abruptness caused the female rider to fall off; he caught her by the waist, gave the startled girl a wink, whispered “Take care of yourself babe”, and set her back on her feet before running off again.

One good deed done and it wasn’t even three thirty.

Mount Justice was soon in sight, and a split second later Kid Flash was standing by their hidden front door and readying to punch in his code to enter the giant hollowed rock. A telltale splash by the sea behind him was all the announcement he needed to know someone’s coming. And who else took the wet route to get to headquarters but Aqualad?

Their responsible leader was always there to pick up the slack of others (and to do paperwork reports that no one else really wanted to fill in). Someone had to be the voice of calm reason in a group full of adrenaline and hormone fueled superheroes. And Kaldur’Ahm had a way with making sentences sound way too formal and important to be ignored.

“You’re early today.” Kid Flash said, turning to greet the other teen hero walking up behind him with a grin. “Undersea _magic_ school finished early?” There’s a science behind everything, and Atlantean spells weren’t magic. It just operates on another plane.

“Good afternoon Kid Flash.” The taller boy greeted, ever the minder of proper manners. “My queen decided to finish up our spells tutorial ahead of time in favor of assisting the little ones in their studies… Do you always arrive on Fridays this early?” Kaldur asked, giving him a little skeptic look.

“Hey, don't look at me like that! I’ll have you know I’m only late whenever I have to wait up for the Flash. I’m generally punctual by myself you know.” The speedster huffed, crossing his arms over the lightning insignia on his chest.

“Forgive me, I didn't mean to insinuate anything.” But the sort of smirk on the Atlantean’s face marred the supposed apology. Then silver eyes trained on the object hanging on the speedster’s shoulder. “Do you usually run with that on your person?”

Kid Flash blinked before looking at his bag. “Oh you mean my backpack? Nah, just during Fridays. It has my civvies and stuff.”

Kaldur’s brow drew into a thoughtful frown as he took the liberty and punched both of their codes in the security pad. Kid Flash stepped up beside him.

“Are you sure that is wise?” Aqualad continued as the light flashed on and then off. The two then found themselves inside the cave. “Robin said that speedsters don’t wear capes because it disturbs their balance when they run in high velocities, I can only imagine your bag poses the same hazard. You should perhaps just leave your bag in your home. You use your room here, am I right? You can keep some clothing there.”

Sometimes Wally felt as if Aqualad was channeling his school counselor and that there was an underlying threat of cafeteria clean-up duty in store for him if he didn’t follow the calm advice he was given. Well, the advices given are normally for his best interests anyway. And what kid in their right mind want to do dishes?

“Sure thing. Starting next week I’ll ditch the bag.” Kid Flash agreed swiftly with an easy shrug as the two boys walked further inside.

A second later, a floating red and green blur flew over them and dropped a towel which Kaldur’Ahm caught. Miss Martian’s soft giggle sounded as she touched down lightly in front of the newcomers.

“Hey guys, had a nice week?” Megan’s clothes were already morphed out of her pink civilian dress to her blue cape and skirt, the big red X across her white shirt marked her as obviously ready for a weekend of superhero activities.

Her unearthly beauty never failed to gain Wally’s attention enough to drop her a line or two. (Nevermind she never bothered to pick those lines up. She’s just playing coy, Wally was sure of it.)

“You know my week is always nice if you’re part of it, Beautiful.” Wally sped over and took her hand in his. He winked. She laughed and subtly slid her hand away.

“Thank you for the towel Miss Martian.” Aqualad said, giving a grateful smile to the alien as he patted himself dry. “My week has been good. How was yours?”

“My week has been fantastic!” M’gann gushed and flew up a few centimeters from the floor. “I learned a new cookie recipe from one of my classmates; I’m trying it out now. You should try some! If you’d like to, of course.” She finished with a shy smile.

Megan was always there with her happy smiles and peppy personality… and her tireless passion of baking copious amounts of goodies definitely adds to her beautiful charm as well. Wally tried to answer her questions about 80’s TV shows to the best of his ability. So far his research on “gnarly” was 60% complete.

“I’d love some!” Wally was about to rush to the kitchen when the zeta tube lit up and the arrival of his least tolerated teammate was announced.

Artemis wasn’t so much of a prima donna on _some_ days which enabled Wally to overlook her innate irritating personality sometimes. But she was one hot piece of work even though she can never manage the same soft smiles Miss Martian had. (She’s more of a smirker) And it was proven on that amnesia-ridden day at Bialya that even _she_ was worth Wally’s `waggling eyebrows if he didn't know her to be an annoying missy.

 “Artemis!” Miss Martian gasped. “What happened to your hair?” she flew over the other girl who was sporting some kind of blue gunk in her blonde locks.

“Urrgh. Some douche bag hostage-taker I stopped on the way over here dumped paint on it. Long story, I don’t really want to talk about it.” The girl looked more annoyed than hurt, so Kid Flash didn’t really worry. He knew from sparring experiences that Artemis can more than take care of herself against petty thugs… but…

“What kind of scumbag doesn’t wait ‘til dark before taking someone hostage? It’s still the freaking middle of the afternoon.” Kid Flash asked, confused. “What kind of criminals does your town have?”

“Ones who're afraid of what comes after dark?” Artemis shot back. “I just stop crime Kid Flap, I don’t go about digging into the why and how. Do I look like a Bat or his sidekick to you?” Clearly she was more irritated about her hair’s situation than she initially let on, if her snarky attitude was anything to go by… Then again, Artemis was always snarky when it came to Wally.

 “We should get it off you quickly before it dries!” Megan said, distressed and looking more than ready to drag the archer off to the nearest water-filled bucket and dunk the other girl’s blemished head in it repeatedly until all traces of blue is washed away, or until Artemis drowns. Whichever came first.

Aqualad came to the human girl’s rescue. “May I help?” He interrupted the girls with an encouraging smile. “I have an idea that might just work. If you’d allow me, Artemis?”

The girl in question blinked twice before slowly nodding, “Yeah, sure, knock yourself out. But no scissors!” then she let her hair out down.

Aqualad didn't bring out scissors. But he did unsheathe the weapons from his back and took a fighting stance… Wally would’ve taken scissors over that any day.

“Woah, hey!” Wally exclaimed as Aqualad raised the water bearers high over his head. “I know Artemis is annoying and downright unbearable, but you don’t have to resort to H2O violence!”

The young Atlantean paid Kid Flash’s words no mind as he summoned water from the emergency sprinklers on the cave’s ceiling and guided it with amazing control to the mess of blue and blond hair on Artemis’s head. He flicked his wrists and the water produced tiny bubbles that foamed and seemed to eat away the paint from the archer’s hair. After a moment, he guided the stained liquid away to the nearest drain and brought his weapons back to their upright and sheathed position.

Artemis stood there with wet but paint-free hair and Megan still attached to her arm. Sure enough, it was the Martian who had enough sense first to speak about the hair treatment.

“That. Was. _Cool_!” Miss Martian exclaimed, letting go of Artemis and floating over to congratulate Aqualad.

“I’m just glad to be of help.” Kaldur said with a smile. He walked over and handed Artemis his still mostly dry towel.

The archer blinked some more before reaching out to take the offered wooly cloth. “T-thanks.” And the smile she gave back to the Atlantean looked weird. But Wally supposed that’s because he never really saw her smile like that for anyone often… or at all.

“We should celebrate with cookies!” Kid Flash exclaimed, to get everyone back on track.

“It’s always food with you, isn’t it Kid Dork?” Artemis said as she toweled her ponytail dry. “There are more important things in life you know.”

The redhead pointed at the girl to single her out. “No cookies for you then!”

M’gann laughed. “Don’t be silly, there’s enough for everyone. Superboy even helped me with the last eight batches. Come on, let’s go see him.” She then flew ahead to the direction of the kitchen and living area.

Kid Flash turned a triumphant look at Artemis before speeding after the Martian. Kaldur’Ahm smiled and shrugged and gestured for Artemis to walk ahead of him. The archer sighed with a dust of color on her cheeks and walked on.

Wally rounded a corner and entered the metal doors to the kitchen. There he found Megan happily sorting the cookies into plates and Superboy sitting by the counter, staring intently at an oven timer like he was trying to get his heat vision to develop and melt it.

Supey could’ve used a little less brooding (and some anger management therapy sessions), but Wally always thought the guy was fun to be around with, especially since Superboy’s super-speed hadn’t manifested yet so Wally could poke fun at him and he’d have the few moments of silence the clone observes to process the joke to run away before any bodily harm made contact.

Besides, Wally knew that deep down Conner was still a naive kid trying to make sense of the world and liked sleeping inside closets from time to time.

“Glaring at it won’t make it turn faster Supey.” Kid Flash said, coming to sit on the stool beside the one the clone was occupying.

“I’m not glaring at it.” Conner grunted in reply without letting up on his murderous stare at the kitchen appliance.

“That’s your non-glaring look? Huh… So your face finally got stuck in a perpetual scowl?” Wally laughed to himself and flinched when a ding sounded and Conner abruptly got up and made a mad dash for the oven… For a moment there he thought he was finally going to get smacked.

Without using oven mitts, the young meta-human took the baking tray out of the oven and delivered them over to where Megan was plating the previous batches. So this was the system the two worked out to keep the cookies from burning.

“Thanks Conner.” Miss Martian smiled sweetly as she used her telekinesis with the steaming baked dough. Superboy looked like a pretty pleased puppy that just got told _good boy._

Wally supposed he should’ve been annoyed he got shown off by an alien clone but Supey looked really pleased, like a child on Christmas morning, and Miss Martian distracted him with the next few words that came out of her mouth.

“Cookies are ready!” Megan announced to the room cheerfully… And really, what other thing would Kid Flash need from her right at the moment?

Needless to say, the speedster was the first one over to answer the alien girl’s call, more than ready to stuff his face with the baked treats. The others followed his example, some less happy about it than others *coughArtemiscough* but soon all the teenaged heroes were assembled around the kitchen island with numerous plates full of cookies in front of them.

With a big grin plastered on his face, Kid Flash grabbed a cookie and was about to pop it inside his mouth whole when a nagging feeling made him stop.

Something didn’t feel right. He didn’t quite know _what_ , but Wally was sure something was off. Like he was forgetting an important chemical bonding formula for the most basic of basic molecular structures… and that just wasn’t acceptable. Nope not at all. So he proceeded to rack his brain of the reason why he was feeling like something’s missing which was keeping him from finally enjoying his sugary snack.

The answer abruptly spoke a few feet away from the little gathering of the team around the counter.

“I can’t believe you guys are having cookies without me!”

The teens flinched like they’ve been sneaked up on and shouted _boo_ at. Which wasn’t all that far from the truth…

“Robin!” Wally was faster to recover from his startled state than the others. He sped over to the younger boy who appeared out of nowhere inside the kitchen and tackled him into a brief hug. “I hate it when you appear out of thin air like that!” he chastised the younger boy with a mock frown.

The boy in question snickered before replying. “You hate it when I vanish into thin air, you hate it when I appear out of thin air — there’s just no pleasing you is there?”

“I’d be very happy if you start coming and going like a normal person.” Kid Flash informed him. Robin’s mouth twisted down in a well formed exaggerated disgust.

“You mean like the boring way? No thanks, I’m good. That would be disappointing, heavy on the dis.” The Boy Wonder’s smile returned and Wally found it suited him more than a grimace ever will. “Besides, I like watching all of you guys get mini-heart attacks whenever you’re spooked.”

“Dude! That is so evil.”  Clever yes, but evil as well.

Robin always had something fun up his sleeve (and after knowing the kid could literally stuff his utility belt up his civilian jacket’s sleeve, the thought oddly fits). And what more fun could Wally ask for than being able to hang out with his best buddy and do the awesomest things? It’s actually one of the best highlights Kid Flash looked forward to, because no one else like Robin could quite operate in the same energy level as him.

 “No more evil than you cracking a joke while someone’s drinking up, hoping to make liquid squirt out their noses.” The Boy Wonder countered evenly.

The two of them were sometimes so in synch, Kid Flash could’ve sworn Robin reads his mind better than any Martian… Actually, Robin could read anyone with smooth, almost slippery, ease. It must come with being under the tutelage of the world’s greatest detective.

“Hi Robin.” Miss Martian said from her place at the counter with the others. Robin and Kid Flash looked over to her. “Sorry, we kind of forgot to wait for you before starting on the cookies.” She looked genuinely apologetic.

“Nah, don’t sweat it Miss M.” Robin brushed the apology off with a grin. “Like I said, I was just messing with you guys.”

“You aren’t normally this late.” Superboy stated. “I guess we were so used to you already being here and just didn’t notice you weren’t.”

“Yeah, why are you late Robin?” Artemis asked, towel still hanging around her slim shoulders. “I’d expect this kind of tardiness from Baywatch over there, but your record doesn’t predict this kind of behavior.”

“How many times do I have to say it’s only my uncle’s fault I’m late sometimes!” Kid Flash blurted, but his outburst pretty much went ignored.

“I had to help Batman out with something.” Robin said with an easy shrug, walking over to the team, Wally still huffing not far behind him.

“I assume you did alright in that mission?” Aqualad said, which was just his roundabout way of asking if Robin didn’t get hurt too bad.

Missions with Batman were always a bit on the extreme side. And if it were anyone else but Robin trotting alongside the big Bat, Wally would’ve worried a lot.

“Yeah, it was fine.” Robin shrugged, taking a cookie for himself and absently examining it. “You know the usual; beat up a couple of drug-dealers, foiled some psychopath’s kidnapping attempt, looked for a wayward tape measure, the works.” He took a bite from the cookie “Nice new recipe Megan! The walnuts are a nice touch.”

Wally was waiting for a punch line of some sort. But when all his best friend did for the next minute and a half was continue munching on cookies, he reluctantly believed there would be no catch to the tape measure escapade story they’ve just been privy to. So he decided to follow Robin’s good example and took a couple of cookies from the plates to munch on.

He was very glad to find he could now swallow the sweet crumbs without any heavy feeling lingering on the back of his mind.

“Why would the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder be hunting around for a tape measure?” Artemis said giving the eating boy a suspicious look.

“Because they want to measure something?” Conner halfheartedly volunteered. And then the clone’s super metabolism (second only to speedster metabolism) convinced him to join the other boys and started reaching for cookies.

“Thinking too hard about it won’t be beneficial. Batman and Robin work in mysterious ways.” Kaldur said reverently. “Why don’t we all just have M’gann’s cookies before Kid Flash consumes them all? Then we can wait for Batman to return from the watch tower to receive our mission parameters.”

The two girls silently agreed and the team eventually had their ritual of eating cookies together before facing their stoic commander-in-chief. Who can blame teenagers for wanting to stock up on sweetness before conversing with an extremely deadly serious superhero?

 “Wow Megan, these really are good. My mom would like trying out these. How much vanilla did you use?” Artemis asked the alien beside her. It was one of those rare moments Wally heard the archer talk like a normal girl.

“Glad you like it. I can give you a copy of the recipe my classmate gave me.” Miss Martian, the ever nice girl, replied

“Oh, can I have a copy as well?” Robin suddenly piped. The others (except Kid Flash who kept munching away) stopped and gave him weird looks. “What? Can’t a guy spontaneously start a hobby without getting judged? Jeez.”

“I’d shupport shyou.” Wally said through a mouthful of baked dough.

“You’d support anything that has the slightest chance of giving you more food to gobble up.” Artemis rolled her eyes.

“And he’d support anything Robin says. Remember that time of the great food fight?” Conner reminded them, before going back to work on eating.

Miss Martian perked up. “I remember it like it was just last week. There was tomato sauce everywhere.”

“That’s probably because it _was_ last week. There are still stains marring the living area.” Aqualad said. “All the red even caused alarm to some of our mentors when they arrived in the middle of that little event.”

And then Kid Flash was reminded of the horror stricken look on most of the adults’ faces and he burst out laughing. Robin cracked up a split second later.

“Man, that idea was awesome!” Robin announced, wheezing through laughter.

“Totally freakin’tastic! I never got to use super speed at any of the food fights back at school before. It was pretty cool to finally use my powers on the battlefield!”

“Your school has food fights often?” Conner asked, bemused, and then revolted. “That’s not a normal thing for _every_ school is it? Because I can drop out anytime. I don’t even understand why I go to school.”

Wally understood where Conner was coming from. The big guy had a mountain-full of worldly knowledge pre-programmed inside his head before he was even let out of his pod. High school textbooks must seem like children’s storybooks to him.

“Don't be silly Conner, school is fun! And highly educational,” Megan argued with a cheery smile. “Where else could we have learned that a high five is a sign of agreement and not the beginning of a five-part duel?”

And then Wally was reminded aliens and alien-clones aren’t that all equipped with earthly common knowledge, so yeah, school was probably a good test run for them.

“You guys are lucky to have a normal school. Some schools are full of high society brats.” Artemis complained, as if speaking from experience. “They let their parents’ position and money rank them in a ladder.”

“Yeah, but that’s real life for most people. Politics, assets, connections… It’s like a collection of trophies to line your living room with.” Robin said sounding apathetic with an underline of disgust that most probably only Wally could hear.

“My King rules with a fair hand… But there are indeed others who take advantage of their wealth and power even back in Atlantis.” Kaldur sounded resigned “The courts are in a constant state of precarious debate over important, to whimsical things.”

“Must be tough for those old enough to be members of the governing body.” Supey commented, brows drawn over in thought.

“Adult life is a walk in the park compared to high school.” Kid Flash stated with a wave of a hand. “It’s full of judgmental jerks, there are labels everywhere, and people not strong enough to stand for themselves get chewed up and spit out… Not to mention kids that age are impressionable and vulnerable.”

“I’m impressed KF, I always thought you only viewed high school as a place where young, inexperienced girls exist to practice your suave pick-up lines and smooth moves on.” Robin cracked up chuckling.

And the first hour of the Friday afternoon proceeded on as normal. The teens huddled together, enjoying some snacks and talking about anything from food-fights to modern philosophy and classical politics, with a healthy dose of joking around in Robin and Kid Flash’s case. All thoughts of tape measures and what’s the catch faded away into crumbs.

Soon the plates were empty of cookies and loaded into the dishwashers. Batman arrived some minutes later, the team assembled in the briefing room and they stood to attention.

“So, Batman sir, what assignment do you have for us this week?” Kid Flash asked, mentally listing possibilities. “Please not another recon mission. As cool as the get in-get info-get out routine is, it’s missing some elements in the crime _fighting_ department.” And how were they supposed to get better without practice?

Robin snorted. “Preventing crime from happening is just as important as stopping it in motion.” He smirked. “You just lack the stealth skills to have fun in our recon missions.”

Kid Flash fought hard not to stick his tongue out at his best friend. And then the Dark Knight spoke, commanding attention and ignoring any prior (or subsequent) interference.

“This is Princess Juhainah, a young noble, fourth in line for her country’s throne.” A hollow screen appeared, floating some feet above the floor and Batman waved his hand to enlarge the girl’s headshot photo. Her exotic yet refined looks spoke of her being a royalty from the Middle East.

 And man did she look hot. Kid Flash wouldn’t mind sweeping that princess off on an enchanted camel ride.

“Despite her bloodline, she has explicitly denied any intention of being crowned future queen. Some people admire her for her humility, others think she’s just pulling a hoax to get people to warm up to her, so despite her said disinterest on the throne, her political enemies have more than once tried to have her assassinated.” Batman informed.

“So? Are you going to send us to stop another assassination attempt?” Superboy asked, scowl once again on his face. He looked eager to start punching hired murderers.

“No.” Batman answered flatly, and Wally guessed the rest of the team looked as startled as he did. “She’s an active member of numerous world-wide helping projects and organizations, so many authorities are already on the lookout for her safety. And her personal guards are no pushovers either. In fact, she’s never needed any external help in keeping herself safe.”

“Uhm. So what seems to be the problem?” Miss Martian spoke up, sounding hesitant but confused.

“She’ll be celebrating her eighteenth birthday tomorrow, where she’s invited other young dignitaries such as herself, and children of political and royal families from all over the world to attend. It’ll be held here in America, since it’s accessible to most people for visitation and our country is supportive of activities promoting positive connections across the globe.” Batman continued on with the briefing. He gestured with his hands again, and this time different angle shots of a modern building appeared. Kid Flash realized it was the venue.

“As per the Princess’s arrangements and request; security personnel of guests, personal or otherwise, can only be stationed outside the venue. Only the young dignitaries themselves will be allowed inside the building. Princess Juhainah says this is to ensure that no potential dangerous outsiders can pose threats on her guests’ safety. The only guards inside the place would be provided by her, guards that she approved and knows personally.” The Dark Knight said.

“It sounds like a pretty good idea to me. With all of the little big-shots probably invited, many people would most likely take the opportunity to slip in and off some of them.” Artemis voiced out, crossing her arms over her chest. “Filtering out outsiders seems smart.” She shrugged.

Wally’s mind raced as he thought about it. Artemis had a pretty valid point of agreeing with the hot princess’s security measures.

“Yeah, I hate agreeing with her in general, but still don’t see the problem.” Kid Flash said, brows drawn together.

“The problem is,” Robin began, “the strategy little Miss Princess wants to use may keep outside danger from _getting in_ , but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any dangers _already_ planted inside.” Robin stated, sounding very sure of himself and a little cocky about getting his mentor’s long-winded backwards way of stating a problem when others couldn’t.

“Things such as traps?” Aqualad asked, sounding like the problem was dawning upon him as well. “I suppose you’re right. If the place has been meddled with prior to the event, there are no true guarantees of the dignitaries’ safety.”

“That.” Robin agreed, “And what basis do we really have for trusting a foreign princess with a blooming career on the dirty field of royal politics, and have successfully thwarted numerous assassination attempts on her person with no help from official authorities whatsoever?” The raven-haired smirked again and directed his masked gaze over to the big bat, almost as if cueing the older man that it was his turn to talk.

“Robin’s right.” Batman said. “There’s no telling for sure what Princess Juhainah’s true intentions are for setting up the celebration as she did. And we can’t exactly risk the lives of many potential world political future players and leaders on nonexistent trust… So this is the part where the team comes in.” There was suddenly a tape measure in the tall man’s hand.

Wally remembered there’s no such thing as getting away scot-free when it came to Gotham’s resident vigilante. So this was the reason why the Dynamic Duo was hunting around for a wayward tape measure. Kid Flash should’ve known there’s always a catch. _Always_.

“Your measurements will be taken and you’ll be fitted with formal clothing. You’ll attend the ball tomorrow night, undercover as noble-children of various micro-nations and keep an eye out for emergencies, and not act out otherwise. Of course you’ll all be expected to behave accordingly to avoid detection.”

“Behave like royalty?” Wally asked, aghast. He looked at his teammates, a Martian, a clone, an Atlantean soldier, a violent prissy girl, and himself; an awkward country-boy at heart. “How do you expect _us_ to pull that off overnight?”

“Think like pompous rich kids! Remember the three S’s: spoiled, snobbish, and self-assured.” Robin cackled softly.

Wally glared at Robin… The shorter boy looked like he was having a field day. Of course the Boy Wonder would know how to act like royalty. When off superhero duty, Robin turned into Richard “Dick” Grayson, and Dick was the adopted son of Gotham’s goddamned reigning Prince; Bruce Wayne, which made Dick a freakin’ crowned Prince. They had a butler for Pete’s sake!

There were times when Wally wished he could call out his best friend on his identity. But then that would blow the secret Dick entrusted him with… And Wally liked having secrets only Dick and him knew. So he shut up and fumed to himself.

This mission would be a disaster for non-insanely-rich guys like him, (and to quote Robin) heavy on the ‘dis’, Wally was sure of it… To Kid Flash’s utter dismay, he was the only one who seemed totally against the idea of joining a royal juvenile social call and pretending to be one of them.

Miss Martian was sold after she heard they’d be attending a ball since she hadn’t been on one before, and she somehow managed to make Artemis not completely repel the idea of wearing a long gown and doing each other’s hair. Conner was easy to appease, and he was curious about a lot of things. The young clone was in the ‘try anything once’ stage of life. And Aqualad always followed the decision of the League without much question or complaint.

Robin was grinning at Kid Flash’s sour expression. Wally huffed and crossed his arms, accepting defeat with a bitter stance. It was him against the world. The least he could’ve gotten was his best friend’s support, but it seemed he going to be denied even that. That stung the most.

“I hate wearing tux.” The redhead grumbled.

“Don’t worry Kid Flash, you won't be wearing a tuxedo.” Batman said, producing a notepad and pen like how he did the tape measure; out of nowhere. “You’ll have a tailcoat.” And Wally was sure he received an evil smirk.

And then Kid Flash was sure he was doomed, because going solo against the world was one thing, but going solo against a smirking Batman? It felt like his defeat was handed to him in a box tied up with a pretty ribbon, and there’s just no way of resisting a pretty ribbon.

“Cheer up KF, it’s not that bad.” Robin slung an arm around his shoulders, subtly tugged him aside and then lowered his voice considerably “At least you get pants.”

 

 

.

End Part 1

.

 


	2. Peice of Cake, Spare Me (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the mission begins...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimers apply. Also, I don't own the Bat-butler.

Strawberry Punch

A Young Justice fanfiction

By Synxailla

.

Part Two: Piece of Cake, Spare Me (Part 1)

.

“Does this tie make me look fat?”

Of all the things Wally expected to hear from Conner, that one…wasn’t included in the list at all.

The young speedster would be lying if he said he didn’t consider saying yes just to mess with the (slightly) taller hero, but in the end he decided to humor the guy since for the first time, Conner seemed genuinely worried about how his body mass index looked to other people.

_Tsk. Noob._

“No Conner, it doesn’t.” Wally answered without even bothering to look at Superboy. He was far too busy struggling with a stupid lace cravat that absolutely refused to be secured into place. “But if you want, I’ll switch with you. I’m not exactly digging all these frills.”

“Why not? They’re very you.” Conner replied offhandedly yet sincere.

Wally wished he had a way of physically hurting the Man of Steel’s clone but he was fresh out of Kryptonite, red sun beams, and magic didn’t exist outside his golden-helmet world (which he had no plans of wearing again _ever._ ) So he just opted for the more civil approach.

 “Supey, you should know there are times when you must keep your opinions to yourself,” Wally began sagely, “likening a guy to a piece of frilly fabric is one of those times.”

Conner just shrugged, still giving the mirror in front of him his sole focus as he kept tugging at the black tie on his neck.

The clone was wearing a classic black tuxedo with a white handkerchief neatly folded in his breast pocket, his ebony hair was slicked back and he was given a silver thin-framed pair of eyeglasses to wear over his blue eyes in a bold attempt to make the buff and gruff kid look like a fine young man…

Because apparently when you’re a Super, eyeglasses was just the thing you need to tone things down.

“I think it’s too small. I look like I’m being choked.” Conner complained, but Wally was sure he didn’t feel the constriction. Being a Meta had its perks.

“That’s just how a tie works. The choking is a sign you’ve done it right. I can’t remember a time I’ve worn ties that didn’t feel snug.” Wally answered for the noob’s peace of mind.

Conner looked like he was going to buy it for a second, but then his eyes caught sight of their Atlantian friend and all of his reluctant acceptance was gone in a blink of an eye.

“How come _you_ don’t have to wear a tie?” Superboy rounded on the other teen with envy and genuine whining. Wally almost snorted a dry laugh. Almost.

“My attire doesn’t call the need for a tie,” Kaldur evenly defended. “Agent A said so.”

This time, Wally did snort.

_Pfft. Agent A._

Such a creative codename, it was immensely (marginally) better than ‘Bat-butler’. It seemed the older man had a fondness for James Bond movies. Well didn't that just figure? The man was British after all… Or it could be an MIB movie reference, since the man in question was friends with some real-life aliens.

“I don’t think ties work with formal army clothes.” Wally commented while looking at Kaldur’s outfit, and then he grumbled “I could’ve worn that cool jacket too… I think Agent A’s just playing favorites.”

Stupid Kaldur and his stupid endearing politeness that made adults think he was a freaking gift of God to good manners.

 “I would not say that, I do have gills to hide from public so I need high collars.” Kaldur defended as he brushed the sleeve of his immaculate midnight blue military-style formal jacket. It was completed by fancy shoulder pads with stripes of royal distinction and golden chords hanging around across his chest with a deep red stone (garnet maybe?) pinned on the end.

It was a jacket fit for a prince on his wedding day. And the fact that Kaldur’s water bearers doubled nicely as decorative sword handles was a plus “And I don’t believe Agent A is a man who lets biases affect his judgment. He works for Batman after all.” The well-dressed hero finished.

The fact that Kaldur didn’t deny he might be a new favorite of the butler didn’t escape Wally. He released an un-amused snort.

“Where does Batman get people like Agent A?” Conner asked, sporting a confused look. “Is there some kind of secret League-assistance organization full of people that are experts on…on―”

“Everything from teaching how to properly brew morning tea, to noble etiquette and espionage drills?” Wally concluded for the taller hero. “Nah, there isn’t a club for people like that. Agent A is one of a kind.”

Alfred Pennyworth, or as he’s mostly known in the field of secret superheroes: Agent A, was kind enough to arrive at Mount Justice bright and early that Saturday morning to give the teens a crash course on how they were expected to behave in the coming evening’s mission.

Funnily enough, Robin’s three S’s wasn’t the guideline Agent A had them follow… Maybe Dick was the only one who could pull off being a spoiled, snobbish, self-assured aristocrat brat.

They managed to cover everything from their respective supposed heritage reaching past eight generations, to the modified names of the fake micro-nations they were representing. They also had all the necessary basics of proper etiquette down to pat. But it was too troublesome to change the way they spoke, so Agent A just prepared a list of words that weren’t appropriate for young nobles to mention in public.

For everything else, _“answer vaguely but with confidence, nod politely with smiles if needed be, and excuse yourself swiftly before fleeing with dignity.”_

They weren’t meant to socialize much with others anyway. Their orders were to constantly be on the move, doing discreet patrols of the place and looking out for signs of looming party crashers. Basically, all they needed were the proper clothes and nondescript attitudes in order to get their work done without arousing suspicion from the pubescent politicians.

All in all, the crash-course training went better than Wally had expected. There was just one thing Wally found irksome about the whole ordeal…

“Did they really have to make me wear this?” Wally bemoaned in annoyed misery, frowning down at his ridiculous clothes.

The redhead huffed and grumbled moodily for the nth time that evening, his mood range permanently stuck on sulking… Batman pushed through with his smirking claim that Wally would be wearing a tailcoat. The young speedster was currently sporting one that looked as ancient as some of the antiques inside Wayne manor itself…

And he didn’t like it one bit. He felt like his great, great, grandma picked out his clothing for him while nursing a grudge over him wrecking havoc in her tidy kitchen, and not sending a thank you card for last Christmas’s rock-hard fruitcake.

The monstrosity he was forced to wear had double columns of big shiny black buttons and black outlines, lots of tiny intricate sewn-in designs that he supposed was meant to be olden gothic, and the ‘tail’ of the coat looked like a poor imitation of a peacock’s tail, fanning out to cover his posterior, reaching just above the back of his knees. He tugged his blue (not just any blue, but oh-so-bright _baby blue_ ) tailcoat tighter over his black dress shirt. His pants matched his coat, (baby) blue.

Wally felt his frown going deeper as his latest bout of self sulking was interrupted by a low chuckle.

“And you say I pull brooding faces.” Conner smartly put in, giving a smug smirk to Wally’s grimace. “What was it you told me? Oh right: careful, or your face will get stuck that way.”

Wally guessed there must’ve been something about wearing fancy clothes and donning fake glasses that made Supey less grumpy and more talkative… Whatever it was, Wally wasn’t in the mood to marvel at it at the moment.

“Shut it or I’ll mess up your hair.” Wally spat. He had borne witness to how Superboy worked like a watchmaker in getting his black hair gelled into perfection. It was a bit surprising to find out the young hero was OC when it came to such things.

“Try, and I’ll rip the strands off your head.” Conner growled; all traces of humor gone from his face. Wally found he felt slightly better after managing to successfully rattle the teen of steel.

The redhead snorted, and then smirked. “You’re going to have to actually catch up to me first to do that.”

That of course, resulted in a growl from the guy in tux. Wally fought back with his best condescending smirk… And Kaldur heaved a frustrated sigh.

“Stop that. We don’t have time for such childish antics.” Kaldur spoke up. “We need to pull this undercover mission successfully, it would help a lot to let go of aggressive behavior… At least until the mission is over.”

Wally wanted to argue because he was still in a bad mood… But eventually, he let his inner hero suck it up and he was able to spit out a strained agreement.

“ _Fine._ ”

Superboy grunted his own reluctant assent.

“Good.” Kaldur let his shoulders ease off some tension. “We wouldn’t want to have the girls see you threatening each other’s hair. The irony would be…unlivable.”

“What’s keeping them anyway?” Conner questioned. “How long do girls need to get ready?”

“I think it’s less of a question of how long girls need, and more of how much dolling up Agent A is having them undergo.” Wally answered.

The three boys looked at each other and as one, bowed their heads and observed a moment of solemn silence in respect of their female friends’ loving memories.

Agent A ended their impromptu lessons that afternoon in favor of helping them get dressed. After demonstrating to Conner how to properly do a bowtie, he mostly just dumped the boys with their fancy clothes and customized shiny shoes before he turned to the girls with an uncharacteristic smile on his lips and a giant black suitcase in his arms.

 _“Now my dear young ladies fret not if you’re sensitive to a little make-up. The brand I brought is assuredly hypoallergenic. Also, I have just the perfect dresses for you to try on and shoes to_ _—“die for”, I believe is the expression.”_

The girls had no choice but to follow the man into the other room to their possible dooms via foundation powder and high heels.

Never was Kid Flash ever more grateful for being born male.

“I bet if Robin were here, he’d be bored out of his mind waiting for the girls too.” Wally couldn’t help thinking aloud. _Or be fussed over by the butler as well._ Who wouldn’t fuss over Robin? The kid was like, a natural crowd favorite.

“Maybe that’s why he took the first chance he had and left early?” Conner said, clearly impressed with the absent shorter kid.

Wally glared at his shiny shoes.

“Robin didn’t need any lessons about formality because he said it had been integrated in his trainings from before.” Kaldur’Ahm answered. “And Batman said Robin would need to arrive there early. He left ahead to secure things inside that Batman wouldn’t be able to since he can’t enter the place himself.”

“He could’ve waited for us. We could’ve gone together to help him out… Total show-off.” The redhead grumbled. His mood was back to rock bottom.

“I ask you not to be so upset with Master Robin, sir Kid Flash.” A voice with impeccable enunciation suddenly said from behind the speedster. “He is but a dedicated young soldier following the general’s orders.”

Wally started. “Geez Al—Agent A!” he prayed his slip wouldn’t be questioned. “Did you have to sneak up on me like that?” or was that just another bat thing? Wally didn’t even hear the door open.

Agent A merely tilted his head minutely in amuse. The man was wearing his usual black butler attire with a fedora hat over his balding head and a black domino mask over his eyes as a pseudo-disguise. After zeta-beaming over that morning he was introduced by Robin to the rest of the Team as “an associate of Batman” and those were the only words needed for the Team to trust the man with their one-night personality and aesthetics makeovers.

Only Wally and Robin knew who Agent A really was, and nobody else knew he knew, and that suited Wally just fine. Being trusted with secrets sort of made him feel special. And at the moment, Wally kind of needed all the boost his floored ego could get.

“So sorry for coming in unannounced, but I was done assisting the young ladies and thought it proper to present them to you young gentlemen as soon as possible.” Agent A said with a more noticeable dip of his head. “I present to you, Miss M’gann and Miss Artemis.”

Wally had a hard time believing the two girls Agent A ushered in were the same girls Kid Flash fought alongside of on a regular basis… They looked...well…hotter than usual.

Miss Martian wasn’t green anymore and her red hair was shorter, just to her nape, and it was done in waves that curled elegantly around her face. Her white sleeveless dress had a deep ‘v’ neckline showing some of her cleavage and a flowing skirt that reached a couple of inches past her knees. It looked like it would flutter nicely with the breeze…

Megan looked a lot like a red-haired version of Marilyn Monroe in her ensemble. And Miss Monroe was one of the hottest ladies in history.

Artemis on the other hand, had her long blond hair down and done in big ring-curls that reached her mid-back. She wore a golden ornament that wounded around her whole upper arm, and a black purse was slung on her shoulder with a thin golden chain. Wally was no idiot. He knew that if those accessories were provided by Batman’s butler, then they were most probably concealed weapons.

Their female archer had on a long deep-red silk gown that hugged her curves and accented them nicely. Twin slits ran along the sides of her dress up to her (milky-white) mid-thighs. Wally realized the slits were probably designed more as to ease movement in case of emergency than to show off her legs, but they were still stare-worthy.

 “Stop drooling at us! We aren’t here for your viewing pleasure!” Artemis suddenly shouted, red-faced and indignant (with a generous amount of embarrassed thrown in), snapping Kid Flash from his staring.

“Don’t get too full of yourself Arty.” Wally snapped back. “We were just shocked you could pull off wearing a real dress.” And it was partly true too, at least for him. “And we weren’t drooling, stop exaggerating.”

Behind Wally, Conner awkwardly wiped some spit from the corner of his mouth, perfectly proving Wally wrong. _Such a noob._

Artemis was about to snap back at Wally but their leader got in between them to extinguish the upcoming fight.

“What Wally meant was, you ladies stunned us with your entrance. Please forgive us if we seemed rude by staring at you earlier.” Kaldur’Ahm smoothly cut-in, giving Wally a subtle sideway glance that dared him to contradict his words.

Wally still didn’t want to do dishwasher duty, so he backed down.

Artemis still had red staining her face but seemed sated with the apology enough not to continue on with their shouting match. Miss Martian resting a friendly (restraining) hand on the blond girl’s arm also seemed to help in cooling Artemis’s temper down.

“Fine, just don’t do it again.” The archer muttered.

Too bad, Wally felt like he would’ve welcomed at least a dozen more snapping arguments with someone to blow off some steam. This mission was going to suck. He could feel it in his molecularly altered, scientifically enhanced bones.

“All of us are geared up. Can we go now?” Wally asked irritably. The sooner they can get there, the better. “Rob’s been working without us for a good two hours. He’s going to lord it over us and call this his solo mission if we don’t hurry.”

Before any of his teammates could say anything, Agent A answered Wally’s petulant demand.

“One moment if you please.” Taking the attention and delaying their departure. “I seem to have forgotten to mention that Princess Juhainah set up a theme for her party.”

“Theme? Isn’t that kind of important?” Wally asked, the implied ‘and you didn’t tell us?’ echoing loudly in the room. “You’re not telling us to go change to fit the theme are you?” But on second thought, Wally wasn’t totally opposed to the idea of changing.

“No, your attires fit it perfectly, though the ladies are missing something vital.” The disguised butler took out two small rectangular boxes from his coat’s inside-pocket. He gave one to Conner, and the other to Kaldur.

The boys gave confused looks, but Agent A simply nodded his head in a gesture the guys took to mean ‘open the box’, and so they did.

Inside were corsages. Conner’s box contained one with a white lily, and Kaldur’s was a red rose. Needless to say, both noobs looked like they didn’t know what to do with them.

“A prom? The princess wants a prom-themed birthday party?” Wally asked with a raised eyebrow.

“She’s fond of cultures from the western parts of the world you see, so she made her theme into a prom.” Agent A explained.

A squeal of delight sounded, and everyone turned just as Megan covered her mouth shut with her hands. She looked embarrassed about her squeal, but excitement still danced in her eyes.

“Sorry,” she murmured. “It’s just, I saw proms on TV before and I just think it’s super cool I get to partake in one now.” She gave a weak embarrassed laugh to save face.

Conner looked at Megan then at the corsage in his hand, and back to Megan. A small smile slowly crept on his face and he held out his free hand out over to the Martian… She slowly, hesitantly, placed her hand in his and then Superboy, with all the same care he placed into gelling his hair and then some, secured the flower-band to Megan’s small wrist. The girl looked at him with a blushing grateful smile.

“It’s beautiful. It suits you.” Conner stated simply. Megan looked just about ready to swoon.

Wally hated to admit it, but for a noob, that was pretty smooth. There really must be something with Conner and eyeglasses.

After the first corsage was put in its place, everyone turned as one to look at the people in charge of the second one.

Artemis jerked as if burned when they turned their eyes on her.

“I-I can put it on myself.” She stammered with uncharacteristic fidgeting. “You don’t have to Kaldur.” She was waving her hands in front of her in dismissal. Frantically. Clearly she didn’t want to have the same treatment as the previous girl did in being given her corsage.

“Nonsense Miss Artemis.” Agent A scolded with a straight face. “Besides, it’s tradition for a gentleman to put the corsage on the lady’s wrist.”

The Atlantian was too much of a proper-mannered debonair young man to leave a girl hanging… That, or Kaldur read between the lines of Agent A’s words and picked out the ingrained warning in them. Wally translated it roughly into: _put the flower on the girl or I won’t be baking anything for you for a month._

Translation might’ve varied from person to person. Kaldur may have decoded one threatening his pet fishies for all Wally knew.

“May I?” Kaldur asked and patiently waited for the flustered girl to come to terms with her fate of having a decorative flower wrapped on her wrist by their team leader.

Wally wished they’d hurry it up and get the whole stupid corsage thing over with. But he wisely kept his mouth shut for once… He liked the cakes Dick brought over, thank you.

Artemis inhaled deeply. After exhaling slowly, she gave a nod and a determined look that seemed better suited for life-changing decisions than as a show of consent to let her wrist be strapped on with bright petals. Was she always that weird? Or was she being extra weird tonight? Maybe she caught it from Conner or something.

The girl in red extended her arm and Kaldur caught it halfway, lifting it up gently and securing the red flower on the girl’s wrist. After he was done, he gave a kind smile to the girl making Artemis look even more flustered, her glance dropping to the floor.

“T-thanks.” Artemis mumbled and shakily removed her hand from the Atlantian’s gentle hold.

She seemed so far from the girl who once upon a time openly flirted with Superboy, and from the prissy nagger who continuously argued with Kid Flash… Somehow, the tall, dark boy had turned the hot-blooded heroine into a stuttering, flustering, fidgety mess. It seemed like she wasn’t comfortable around guys that actually had manners.

Wally was already forming a plan inside his head to hook Arty and Kaldur up so that she’ll mellow down and his ears would be eternally grateful, but then he put his mind into more pressing matters.

“Hoorah. We've finished with the corsages.—Let’s run, we’re wasting time!” Wally snapped with an exaggerated gesture of throwing his hands in the air. The sooner they started, the sooner it’ll end.

“I believe Mister Kid Flash has a point.” Agent A spoke up, setting the others back into serious mode way better than Wally’s outbursts ever could. “Two at a time if you please. Why don’t you go ahead Miss M’gann and Mister Kent?”

“R-right!” Megan spoke, snapped from admiring the white flower on her left wrist.”C’mon Conner.” She dragged the glasses-clad boy with a wide, bright smile on her face over the zeta tubes. The machines lit up and the two vanished with the fading light.

“Mister Aqualad, if you’d kindly escort Miss Artemis?” Agent A said, turning to the Atlantean and the blond girl with a tilt of his head.

“Yes, sir.” Kaldur promptly answered. “Artemis?”

“Right behind you.” Arty answered as they too walked over the Zeta-beam tubes and transported with the light.

The Bat-butler was as effective at giving orders as his employer was.

“Finally we’re moving!” Kid Flash exclaimed with exhausted relief. He was about to dash over to the same machines that teleported his friends away when he felt a hand on his shoulder making him turn back. “What’s wrong?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth Master Wallace.” Alfred’s monotone voice didn’t conceal the seriousness behind them. He called Wally, “Wallace” for goodness’ sake. He’s bringing out the big guns! “Would you mind terribly if I ask why you’ve been in a sour mood?”

_Why yes, I would mind, terribly…  But saying that would cost me my cakes._

The Bat-butler was also as effective at reading others as the Batman was. Maybe even better… So Wally conceded with the fact he won’t be getting out of this one with a made-up excuse.

“I don’t know.” The redhead sighed. “I just… I _really_ don’t like this mission. I’m not a fan of uptight and formal events. They make me…uncomfortable.” He hated high-class social gatherings where people look at each other with judgmental stares and haughty glares.

He gets nervous and fidgety under scrutiny and he acts more of a klutz than normal when he’s nervous. And he’s not looking forward to making a fool of himself in front of rich snotty adolescents that were more than ready to laugh and point at him. Though right now, all of it seemed inevitable.

“Have a little faith in yourself Master Wallace.” Agent A encouraged. “Why, just look at Master Robin; I assure you he’s not a fan of such events either, but he manages to go along with it and―”

“Yeah, and he told me he’ll have my back tonight, but he’s not anywhere within fifty miles for the past four hours is he?” Wally cut the butler off with more bitter rudeness than he could help holding back.

A second of silence rang between them which Kid Flash used in cursing his ever trouble-making mouth. Nobody, _nobody_ snaps at Alfred Pennyworth and lived with enough self-respect intact to tell the tale.

“Ah. I see.” Alfred spoke up after the agonizing second, all-too knowingly. “Master Robin went ahead and left you, thus you’re upset.”

“Am not!” Wally denied instantly.

But Alfred went on as if he heard nothing.

The Bat-butler was _also_ as effective at ignoring interruptions as the Batman was.

“And I’d wager my hat that your teammates’ elated states did nothing to help soothe your sour mood.” Alfred continued with a small shake of his head. “Honestly, young feelings are so easily hurt nowadays.”

Wally crossed his arms and grumbled “You’re making me sound like a grouchy jealous little kid.”

“Heaven forbid.” Agent A said with the same amount of emotion in his voice as the amount of air in space, yet sarcasm cleanly seeped through. Alfred was always good at taking out emotion from his voice yet conveying his messages with an impact of an F1 pile-crash.

Wally rolled his eyes and hitched his feelings higher to keep them from sagging to the ground. And then the sarcasm in the older man’s aura left to be replaced by whole-hearted sincerity.

“You do know I was serious when I said Master Robin is only following orders, correct?” Alfred said “If he had a choice in the matter, he’d be here to support you… That is of course, not counting that he readily ‘has your back’ in spirit, which I’m sure he has.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Wally wasn’t quite in the forgiving mood just yet. His pride may not have been as high as some people, but he still had one.

“You’re one of his most trusted and cherished persons Master Wallace.” Alfred said with the most sincerity Wally ever heard from the man. “He has few of such persons, and it would be unfortunate to have one of them bear ill feelings towards him. You don’t, do you?”

Why did Alfred need to have the ability to make a person’s pride jump on the backseat and let his conscience drive?

Wally sighed. “No.” a bit surprised to realize how easily he could forgive his best buddy for the heinous crime of ditching him to wear dorky tailcoats. Better keep it secret or Dick would no doubt take advantage of it.

“Good.” Agent A smiled kindly. “Now, I think it’s best you have this.” He handed the young man a small circular box.

Wally blinked down at the thing on his hands. “What’s this?”

“A secret weapon.” Agent A whispered conspiringly. Then he cleared his throat and straightened up. “That’s enough dilly-dallying I suppose. We should get you to your team.”

“You’re right.” Wally tucked the small box away, “Robin’s waiting.” and smiled back for the first time that evening. Things were starting to look up.

-

―X―X―X―X―X―X―X―X―X―

-

 _/WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’D RATHER WORK WITHOUT ME?/_ Wally practically snarled into the team’s telepathic connection. His green eyes roaming around the ball-room full of colorful dresses and tuxedos, looking for a sign of the person he just snapped at.

He could feel the mental winces of Megan and Kaldur, and the bubbling irritation of Conner and Artemis. He paid them no mind. He was busy waiting in seething temper for Robin’s reply.

 _/I never said I’d rather work_ without _you,/_ came the still missing boy’s weak reply. _/I just think we can cover more ground if… you know, we work… separately?/_

Wally never thought he could feel any more annoyed than he did when he was stuffed into the stupid tailcoat. Apparently he was wrong, since Robin insisting not to rendezvous with him made a vein in his forehead throb and his left eye tick uncontrollably.

 _/That isn’t the plan. We work in a BUDDY system./_ Wally seethed  / _Just stop being a brat and tell me where you are!/_

The others were already in their respective pairs and starting their rounds. Superboy and Miss Martian were by the guests of honor’s tables to keep a close eye on the more important attendees and more likely targets. Artemis and Aqualad were patrolling near the exits to monitor people getting in and out. Robin and Kid Flash were given the task of watching over the main hall and the ball-room area.

A task that they should’ve been doing for the past ten minutes now, if Robin had just come to his senses and cooperated.

 _/Hey, watch it!/_ Robin’s thoughts sounded a bit hurt. _/I’m not a brat./_

Wally knew better than to fold at that.

 _/Could’ve fooled me. With all the stubbornness, refusing to work in a team, and insisting on having your own way. Seems pretty bratty to me./_ Wally said with ice in his thoughts.

It could’ve been just him, but Wally felt a mental flinch from Robin. But it was gone as fast as it came.

 _/You and I are have the most experience here./_ Robin began, sounding like he’s about to break out a very logical argument. _/We can handle this cake mission solo no prob. And like I said, the ball-room and main hall are large areas. We can cover them better if we split up. It’s better that way_ _—/_

 _/That’s not the point!/_ Wally snapped, unconsciously throwing his hands up in frustration and not caring if he was getting weird looks from some of the young dignitaries around him.

 _/I don’t get why you’re so against it!/_ Robin’s thoughts were starting to sound annoyed and confused.

 _/ I don't get why you’re so stubborn!/_ Wally countered.

/WOULD THE TWO OF YOU PUT A SOCK IN IT! /

There was collective awe and silence from the teens in mental link as dear sweet Megan huffed from having shouted (in thought) in outburst. Once she was calm enough she continued to chastise.

 _/It grates on all of our minds when you two clash thoughts./_ Miss Martian began, like talking to messy two-year-olds. _/If you continue with this behavior, I’m going to have to cut you boys off./_

 _/Well if Boy Wonder would just stop being stupid and agree to rendezvous, everything’ll work out./_ Wally thought, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing a breath.

 _/Don’t call me stupid./_ Robin replied, thoughts sounding threatening.

 _/I will when you stop being one./_ Wally thought back without hesitation.

Kid Flash was sure Robin had more stupid things to say about how he didn't need help and didn’t want Wally with him. Fortunately, Kaldur cut in before Wally had to hear any more stupid nonsense that made his head hurt and chest heavy.

 _/Regardless of any apparent incentives, we can’t just deviate from mission parameters./_ Kaldur’s thoughts sounded level with a touch of nuisance on the edges. _/This whole argument is pointless. As Kid said; we work in a buddy system. It’s dangerous alone, no mission is ever…cake, enough to be underestimated./_

 _/But_ _—!/_

 _/Protocol is protocol and orders are orders, Robin./_ And the tone of Kaldur’s thoughts sounded very much final.

Wally inwardly cheered. Which of course, was heard by the whole team… It was matched by Robin’s groan of defeat.

 _/Quick, tell me where you are!/_ Kid Flash all but demanded. _/There’re so many guys here I can’t sort through all of them you know./_ and Robin had some mad ninja skills, it’ll be hard to look for the guy without clues.

 _/Well you wouldn’t have to if you just agreed to what I said./_ Robin retorted.

_/Not this again! Aren’t you tired of this stupidness?/_

_/The correct word is “_ stupidity” _Mister Teenaged Scientist. How can you mess up such basic grammar?/_

_/Honestly? This coming from a guy who regularly butchers the English language? You’re such a hypocrite Rob./_

_/Well you’re a hypercrite. And don’t pretend you don’t know what that means, you_ _—/_

 _/Okay, that’s it./_ Miss Martian cut off Robin mid-thought. _/Have fun using the radio guys. Buzz me when you’re ready to behave. I’ll re-link you guys up then./_

And then Kid Flash encountered the familiar feeling in his head of Miss Martian severing mental ties with him.

Wally heard Robin’s protest of _/Miss M wait!/_ fade off… And then the green-eyed young man was left only with his own thoughts inside his head.

With a sigh, the red-haired young man reached up to activate the micro-radio on the bud in his ear. He hadn’t needed to use radio communication in missions for so long, the hum of the frequency felt like a stranger all over again to him.

“Okay Rob, enough games. We just pissed Megan off, and that deserves some kind of douchebag trophy.” Wally hissed into the hidden mic in his cufflinks, making sure to do things discreetly and keep his voice down. “You heard the leader, no straying from the plan. Where. Are. You?”

Kid Flash waited for an answer but all he heard over the air was static…

It seemed like Dick was still being stubbornly bratty. It grated so much on his nerves, but that wasn’t going to make Wally give up on his goal.

“ _Fine._ Be that way.” The redhead snarled whisperingly into the com-link “I’ll find you myself.” He’d go through the whole sea of faces if he had to.

Wally let his hand drop from his ears, cutting off the annoying static he was receiving. He straightened his back and let his green eyes do a once over of the bustling crowd of rich kids and little politicians.

They all seemed engrossed in their own little world. Laughing politely and engaging in idle chatter. Practicing their little dance of deceit and deception with the awkward grace of a newborn gazelle taking its first steps. Wally felt his stomach churn when he thought about braving his way through those kinds of people in his daring quest to look for his best friend…

 _But no._ Kid Flash shook his head and steeled himself. He was going to find Robin in this mess of fake smiles, no matter what. And once he found his friend, it’ll all be a lot easier.

Well, maneuvering his way through the crowd was easier said than done. Wally wasn’t exactly in possession of any grace of any newborn cattle. If he was wearing a black and white tux, his image of an awkward penguin would be impeccable. He lost count of how many times he stepped on people’s feet or bumped into them and murmured embarrassed apologies. And he couldn’t quite find the right way to subtly look into a guy’s face to check if it was his friend in disguise.

It was in the fourth agonizing minute of Wally’s grueling search (time passes much, much slower to speedsters, thank you!) did he hear it. A small click in his ear that meant someone was contacting him via his com-link and the soft hum of the carrier frequency that instantly followed, broken by the message.

_“Turn left.”_

It was unmistakable… Wally felt like he hadn’t heard it in so long, mental signals weren’t quite the same as the real thing. That was Dick’s voice, his physical voice, sounding from the other end of the connection after Wally barely dodged a guy with a tophat.

It must’ve been the suddenness of it all that made Wally’s heart go *ba-dump*. Wally was sure of it.

 _“It hurts to look at you get tangled in silly messes”_ Robin’s teasing voice sounded in a whisper in Wally’s ear. _“You’ll blow our cover by being creet like that. Try adding more’ dis’ on the discreet will you? Turn left.”_

With a triumphant grin on his face, Wally veered left.

It took everything in Kid Flash not to use his superspeed, he had to keep in mind he was part of a _covert_ team doing an _undercover_ mission, and that showing off his awesome superpower will make his teammates mad at him. After he passed a bust of a balding old man, his com-link sounded up again.

 _“Go for 2 o’clock. There’re less obstacles that way.”_ Robin instructed, Wally followed. As he did with the series more of instructions that came after.

_“Okay, now turn right and keep true for about thirty-five feet.”_

_"Head’s up KF, a waitress is coming, try not to knock the tray off her hands.”_

_“There’re a couple of guys arguing at 10 o’clock. You wouldn’t want to be coerced into another active peace talk.”_

_“Now turn left again and keep walking ‘til you get to the end of the hall.”_

The area Robin led Wally through had considerably less people that the speedster felt safe enough to reach up and activate his own com-link to converse back to his tour guide.

“I feel like a character in an adventure game and you’re holding the controller.”

 _“Well that’s great for you right?”_ Robin’s reply sounded amused and smug. _“I always lead my characters to the goals in perfect condition.”_

“Yeah, by using _cheatcodes._ ” Wally said, remembering all those times Robin handed him his butt on video games.“There are no cheatcodes in real life Rob.”

Robin snickered on the other line.

 _“Yeah, yeah I get it. You’re such an expert on real life that you don’t trust me.”_ Robin said with a smirk in his voice, and mischief in his tone.

Oh he did not just go there.

“I trust you with my life, both real and virtual.” Wally declared with all the conviction he had in his being. “You know that.”

For a moment there was silence on the other line and Wally was taken over by the irrational fear that his best friend wasn’t going to talk to him again…

“Robin?” Wally whispered “Are you there?”

Two seconds of heart-stopping silence and then the small device in his ear cackled with static.

 _“Y-yeah…”_ The boy on the other line breathed. Robin coughed lightly to clear his throat _“Yeah I’m here... You’re nearing the end of the hall. You should see a set of stairs to your right.”_

In all of Wally’s internal musings, he didn’t realize he kept on walking and was indeed nearing the latest destination Robin gave him. The hall ended with a set of tall windows looking out the compound.

He looked to his right and as Robin said, there was a set of stairs, innocently standing at the corner. It wasn’t shabby-looking to be out of place, nor was it too extravagant to be an attention-getter. And a corner like that wasn’t normally where one would place a stairs. Must be why no one else seemed to go near it. It was simply _there_ , blink and you’ll miss it.

A soft draft blew from above, ruffling Wally’s red locks. He looked up and saw the stairs led to a balcony with white flowing curtains and an open archway to an outdoor hanging deck.

So that’s where Robin was hiding. Wally had to admit, it was a pretty good hiding place, away from the bustle of the party, quiet, roomy, and with a good vantage point of the ball-room and main hall areas. It seemed like a pretty comfy place for Rob to hangout while he monitored the place via the surveillance cameras Wally assumed the younger boy hacked.

Without further ado, Wally climbed up the steps. When he set foot on the top, he went through the archway without hesitation and was met with the view of the night sky. It all seemed like a pretty normal view. The stars were twinkling, the moon was glowing, and the garden in the grounds below was quiet and peaceful... There was just one thing wrong with the whole picture.

Dick wasn’t there.

“I can’t believe this!” Wally grumbled, feeling like he’d been duped yet again by his best friend.

So Robin wanted to keep playing hide and seek? Fine, he can do that. Like he’d give up so easily…

Wally turned on his heels, intent on running back down the stairs and continuing his search. “When I get my hands on that little squirt, I’ll—” The wind blew again, harder this time, and Wally had to shut his eyes for a second, missing his orange goggles that shielded his eyes whenever he ran.

“You’ll what?” an amused soft voice carried by the wind asked.

Wally’s eyes shot open despite the first reflex to protect them from the wind. He had to do a double-take to convince himself his eyeballs weren’t broken and playing tricks on him.

The white curtains were still being blown around by the wind, creating a totally weird, yet totally appropriate chick-flick-like effect behind the person that just spoke moments ago. The person in question was a bit on the short side, had long dark-brown hair, smiling pink lips, and a pair of striking deep blue eyes.

This time, Wally wasn’t quite sure if it was the suddenness of it all that had his heart going *ba-dump*.

“When you get your hands on that ‘ _little squirt_ ’,” the person spoke again, with a smile so dazzling it should be criminal, “you’ll do what, Wally?”

Wally took another eyeful of the person in front of him who appeared out of nowhere… The person was dressed in a pink contraption that Wally could only describe as _fluffy_. It reminded him of a cotton candy to be honest. The fluffy thing looked like a rip-off of a dress made in the Victorian age of England, with some gothic and baroque-esque influence, accented with a bundle of black lace and silk ribbons.

The breeze that still blew made the person’s long dark-brown hair done in two-tails flutter on either side and the fluffy thing dance about with the wind, exposing black shoes that looked like a cross between Black Canary’s high heels and prestigious school-shoes, strapped by pink ribbons and black lace around the ankles.

How did this girl manage to make zero noise while walking around on such shoes? And she just called Wally out by name…

_No… it can’t be… Can it?_

“R-robin?” Wally asked, thinking that if his face looked half as shocked as he felt, he’d come a close second to the face of the dude in Edvard Munch’s Scream painting.

“Took you long enough, Einstein.” An awkward grin came from the pretty girl trying to conceal a blush behind a smirk. “You can stop gawking now.”

Robin.

Robin was.

Dressed as a girl…

Robin was dressed as a girl.

It took a while, but once Wally was able to let the thought sink in, he felt something click, almost like a switch… His first impulse upon seeing his best friend dressed as a pretty girl didn’t seem even _close_ to appropriate, so he had no other choice but to turn to his second option.

“Hahahahaha!”

And just like that, he was laughing like he’d been taking a whiff of the Joker’s special gas all evening.

Wally had lots laughing fits before, but this one didn’t feel like any of those. This one felt…detached from him. Not in the uncontrollable I-can’t-stop-laughing-way. This time, Wally felt like he was outside his body, outside his head; watching himself laugh like an idiot and wondering if the reason for laughter is valid.

An intensely vengeful glare from his best friend (dressed as a girl) told Wally that no, laughing his tonsils out wasn’t the path he should’ve taken. But the stupid laughter only left Wally’s system after he saw a flash of hurt in Dick’s blue eyes. And then with amazing dexterity, the boy maneuvered the fluffy thing with ease, turning with indignant flourish and made to walk back inside towards the stairs.

Robin once described Wally as _“fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth”_. This was perfectly demonstrated when the speedster used his powers to grab the retreating boy’s wrist and turn him back around to stop him from getting away, yet not having anything to say when blue eyes turned their terrifying glares at him… But he didn’t dare let go of his hold. He couldn’t.

_I must have a death wish._

Wally tried to muster all the force and courage to get words to come out of his mouth that could (by some miracle) disperse the awful atmosphere and get Robin to drop that frightening glare… He didn’t succeed.

But it seemed Wally didn’t really have to make himself talk to placate the heavy silence surrounding them. Robin got that covered.

“Look, I get it.” Robin said, “I look ridiculous, and don’t try saying you think otherwise. We obviously can’t work like this, you’ll just keep snickering and I’ll keep getting annoyed.”

“Wha—” Wally tried to ask, but he was cut off.

“That won’t be good for the mission.” Robin continued, sounding like a preacher. “Let’s just split up now. You can take the main hallway since you’re not good at mingling. There are less stuck-up people lingering there. I’ll take the big scary ball-room.”

“But…” Wally was grappling at his mind, thinking of something to say that would convince his friend not to push through with his verdict.

What had he done? After managing to get Robin to tell where he was, Wally laughed in the other’s face like a jerk of an idiot. He managed to discourage his friend from splitting up once, was there even a slight chance of doing it a second time?

“But nothing.” Robin snapped, deflating Wally’s already flat hope. “Let’s stop this nonsense and get to work. You can laugh at me later.” He tugged on the redhead’s hold on his wrist, it didn’t give. “Let go Wally.”

“No!” Wally shouted like a child refusing to let go of a security blanket. Apparently, he sounded weird and whiny enough to get a raised eyebrow from Robin… Well, at least it was a great improvement from the boy’s fierce glare.

“We don’t have time for this Wally.” Robin said, suddenly sounding all logical and indifferent and undiscriminating. “I’ll cover the ball-room. If you catch any trouble in the main hall just contact me via radio. I’ll com bail you out in a flash.” At that last part, he sounded kind, even a little teasing.

 As if he could care less about what Wally did. As if he wasn’t concerned if Wally thought of him as a joke. As if there wasn’t a flash of pain in his eyes in that moment before he turned and started walking away.

“Let’s not split up Rob.” Wally finally got his stupid mouth to say.

Robin heaved a sigh. “We have to. I look far too stupid in this get-up.”

“No you don’t.” Wally said. “You look more like Strawberry Shortcake.”

“That doesn’t help.” Robin deadpanned.

“Hey! It’s better than cotton candy.” Wally defended. “Or would you rather be called the Pink Fluff?”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about!” Robin snapped again. “I look so ridiculous to you; you’ll keep thinking of stupid things and not focus. I never wanted to show myself looking like this… I knew you’d make fun of me.” Blue eyes dropped to the side and pink lips frowned.

Aw man, self-guilt just somehow reached new stomach dropping levels. Worse than when Alfred talked to him, and Wally thought topping that was impossible.

“Rob, dude…” Wally whispered, feeling awful about what he’d done. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

 “Save it KF.” Robin said, still looking like a kicked puppy. “You don’t have to think up excuses. I knew there was chance you’d react like that. It couldn’t be helped…” Then his blue eyes turned cold and he tugged to try and get his wrist loose. “Stop being difficult and let go.”

“I’m sorry Dick!” Wally exclaimed, digging deep and throwing everything he had in his arsenal of words. He closed his eyes and chattered on blindly “I was wrong, I didn’t mean it, I was stupid, I was wrong, I wasn’t thinking, I was full of crap, I was wrong, I was hasty, I wa—”

Soft silk laid a butterfly touch to his lips, silencing Wally’s tirade. Green eyes shot open at the sudden action, they looked at the gloved hand that descended on his lips and traced it to the face of its owner.

Dick had on an expression that Wally couldn’t really decode. But he did know one thing…

“I get it Wally… It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Robin smiled.

Those blue eyes still looked sad.

And Wally was beyond desperate. No matter what he said, it seemed Dick wouldn’t really be able to forget and let go of the thoughtless thing Wally did. He shifted and felt something in his pocket move. Then a light bulb lit up in his head.

_Desperate times are when heroes break out some sort of secret weapon given by gurus or guides or fairies right?_

Without letting go of the other boy’s wrist, Wally used his free hand to fumble inside his coat-pocket and fish out the circular box Alfred gave to him before they left the cave. He prayed whatever muffin or cupcake or cookies were in there would be enough to appease his best friend even for just a while to give Wally a chance of trying to cheer his best friend back up.

After getting the little box out of his pocket, Wally flipped the wrist he was holding and placed the box on Dick’s open palm. He still didn’t let go.

“What’s this?” Robin asked, looking suspiciously at the box on his hand, like a frog would jump out of it or something.

 “Peace offering.” Wally answered, making sure he looked straight to Dick’s eyes and project sincerity.

Robin took his time looking into Wally’s green eyes, maybe searching for telltale signs if the box would spontaneously explode or something… A few moments later (which Wally spent metaphorically holding his breath) Dick sighed and looked back down at the box on his hand.

“It won’t squirt water on my face will it?” Robin asked.

“Nope.” Wally answered with a straight face, praying that Alfred didn’t do a 180 degrees personality shift and gave the young speedster a prank box.

“Good, ‘cause my mascara isn’t waterproof.”

Wally had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from sniggering. He was pretty sure Robin said that on purpose too…

The other teen used his free hand (as Kid Flash still refused to let go of the other) to lift the lid off the round box. Wally braced himself before he looked down at the open box containing Agent A’s so called secret weapon. His green eyes widened and he could only think of two words that appropriately summed up the current situation he dug himself into.

_Oh shit._

What possessed the Bat-butler to give Wally a box that contained a corsage?

Oh man, that wasn’t good. And here he was, trying to convince Robin he wasn’t making fun of the boy’s disguise. Giving the other boy a gag corsage was definitely not a way to do that.

Wally heard a small gasp from Dick. The speedster dared to look up and peek at his friend’s wide blue eyes and shocked expression… Wally counted the microseconds left to his imminent doom.

Painfully slow, Dick lifted his eyes from the box on his hand to direct the same wide-eyed shocked expression to Wally… And they say Batman’s glare make grown men tremble.

“Dick, I can expla—oof!” Wally tried to speak but then he had to shut his eyes as the wind was knocked out of him by a flurry of pink and brown.

Robin knocked him down to the ground. Groggily, Wally put a hand to his aching head. He opened his eyes and found himself flat on his back, looking up at the twinkling stars, some of which were dancing around his face. As soon as he shook the dizziness off, he realized there was bundle of pink fluff on top of him, slender arms around his waist, and a pretty face buried in the insane amount of blue frills on his chest.

 _“Ayefroov yoof”_ Dick said with a face stuffed with frills.

“Uh… What?”

Dick lifted his head up from Wally’s chest and gave one of his dazzling criminal smiles.

“I forgive you.” Dick said, grinning down at Wally, all traces of remorse gone.

The smaller boy chuckled and started to get up, off of Wally. Dick proceeded to smoothen out the fluffy thing by running one hand along it a couple of times. He then extended the same hand back down to Wally, offering to help the guy he knocked down to get back on his feet… Wasn’t that awfully polite of him?

Wally took the offered hand and was hauled to his feet by the suddenly cheerful Boy Wonder. He could only blink stupidly at the younger boy.

“You… forgive me?” Wally asked, giving the other boy an uncertain look.

“Yup!” Robin kept on grinning, squeezing Wally’s hand in his own before letting go.

Wally couldn’t take it anymore… He just had to know or his mind would explode.

“What just happened?”

Dick laughed at the look Wally had on… His blue eyes were once again back to their cheerful sparkling glory with mischievous tendencies. It’s one of the best qualities Wally liked about his friend.

“Carnations always manage to cheer me up.” Dick said with an easy shrug, as if it explained everything.

Wally looked down at Dick’s other hand and saw the corsage Alfred gave him which he in turn gave Robin. Upon closer inspection, the pink flowers on the wrist strap were revealed to be Pink Carnations… _Huh, what do you know?_ Alfred was always one step ahead it seemed. And to think Wally thought the box held pastries.

“What’s weird is,” Robin spoke up curiously, “I thought the only ones who knew that are Bruce and Alfie. They used to give me Carnations to stop me from throwing tantrums.”

“You throw tantrums?” Wally couldn’t help the disbelieving tone in his voice.

“I wasn’t always this mature _Kid_ Flash.” Robin said, with a familiar smirk. “Believe it or not, I was an eight-year-old once upon a time too.”

Wally shook the image of a mini Robin throwing razor-sharp batarangs around because he didn’t want to eat his broccoli, out of his head. That was just silly. Robin liked broccoli… It was celery the blue-eyed boy loathed.

 “So… You aren't mad I just handed you a corsage?” Wally asked, because he wanted things cleared up.

“Well, no.” Dick admitted easily. “I can take this to mean you support this get-up as opposed to my initial impression that you find it ridiculous.” He started fumbling with the corsage, trying and failing to strap it on with one hand. He looked up at Wally. “Give me a hand?”

Wally started, but recovered “Yeah sure.” He took his best pal’s wrist and started tying the ribbon properly. “Why dress up as a girl anyway?” Wally asked, testing the waters, “If you don't mind me asking.”

“KF, you of all people on this team should guess right.” Robin said as if the reason was blatantly obvious. “You know my real name.”

“Well, yeah.” Wally answered. “Dick Grayson.”

“It’s ‘Richard’ Grayson actually,” Robin corrected, “I only let my friends call me ‘Dick’. I’m formally known as ‘Richard Grayson’ in the real world. And as ‘Richard Grayson-Wayne’ to those stubborn people who insist, even though Bruce only made me his ward, not his official adopted son on paper… He did it to get vultures off my back, you know? But it didn’t help much. Most rich people have one tracked minds.”

Wally pondered a bit on Robin’s words… Then it hit him.

“You’re popular as Richard Grayson in the high class community so you can’t come to this party as your civilian self, or else they’ll find it weird if you’re patrolling around and not talking nonsense with the snotty rich kids and not being a snobbish, self-assured, spoiled brat.” Wally thought aloud, “So you disguised yourself… And the least likely way you’d be recognized as Richard Grayson is… by dressing as a girl?”

“Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.” Robin winked at Wally. “We’ll make an acceptable detective out of you yet West…even if you’re a bit slow in some areas.”

“Sorry, we can’t all be junior detectives” Wally grumbled.

“I know, I’m just that awesome.” Robin agreed with a smile. “I also plan to take up baking in my spare time.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that yesterday… you’ll let me have free samples?” Wally joked, feeling a lot more light-hearted.

“If you’ll be good and do you your homework on time.”

“Huh?”

“Hey, I’m just applying the same rules Alfie does in dishing out desserts.” Robin defended, “Which is fair since he’ll be my baking tutor.”

“Sweet!” Wally pumped his fist. Distracted happily by the prospect of free baked goods.

_Unlimited cakes here I come!_

“Save your excitement for later Wallace Westcorn, young Duke of Accerlia.” Dick said, taking Wally’s hand and leading him back inside. “We have a mission to actually pull off, remember?”

It seemed Robin was willing to work together now. Wally had to smile.

“Hey Robin, what am I supposed to call you?” Wally asked, as they stepped down the stairs. “You weren’t there when we were christened with royal names.”

“For tonight, I am Robin Northgale,” Robin said, “daughter of the late Marchioness Mary Northgale. We’re from the same kingdom. And your family took me in after the Marchioness’s sudden death three years ago. So I am in debt to and thankful for your kindness.”

Robin led Wally back into the main hallway, and they kept walking towards the ball-room.

“So that’s our cover backstory when someone asks why we’re so close when we go around patrolling together?” Wally asked.

“Pretty much.” Robin agreed. “Complicated yes, but I didn’t think you’d want the same backstory as the other two pairs.”

“Conner and Megan are in a politically-arranged relationship. Arty and Kaldur have been betrothed before birth…” Wally whispered to himself. He looked at Robin’s hand in his. “So… we’re not romantically involved?”

Wally could’ve smacked himself right after he said it. He almost sounded disappointed.

“Nope.” Robin answered. The area they were in had lots of people in it, but the smaller teen managed to steer them into a path without bumping into anybody. “You’ve harbored a secret crush on me for years though, but you haven’t grown the balls yet to admit it to anyone, including yourself, so you spend our days together enjoying the companionship while secretly pining for me in the deepest corner of your heart.”

Wally pouted at that, willing the blush on his face away.

“Why do I have to be the one that’s pining?”

“Because right now I am the lady and ladies do not pine. Besides,” Robin suddenly stopped and turned to look up at Wally. Dainty hands covered in pink silk reached up and tweaked his collars. “It suits you, Wally.” Robin gave a soft smile.

Wally’s breath caught and he felt like time stopped…

A second (which felt like an eternity) later, a group of chattering teens rounded the corner next to them. Some of them looked over Wally and Robin’s way. But Robin had the excuse of fixing up Wally’s collar to keep ignoring them, while Wally had the excuse of trying to keep his face from exploding like a tomato bomb.

Another second later and Robin dropped his hand. The kids were also gone, leaving the two on their own.

“So those were the guys my sensor was picking up.” Robin said, eyeing the path the group just took.

Wally forcedly snapped sense into himself. “Y-you…” he had to clear his throat “You planted sensors?”

“Yeah.” Robin said, checking under a leaf of a potted fern Wally hadn’t notice before. “I had some scattered in the least patrolled areas of Princess Juhainah’s security. This one sent a signal off earlier.” Robin shrugged. “But it was false-alarm I guess. Those kids must’ve bumped it or something.”

“Wow, and I thought you just hacked the security cameras to keep an eye on things. I didn’t know you added monitoring devices of your own.”

“Well I _did_ have hours to prepare ahead of you guys. It gets boring with nothing to do.” Robin then lifted his left arm and tinkered with his silken gloves. A holo-display sprouted from it.

“Woah. Aren’t those made from real silk?” Wally asked, amazed. He was sure those were real silk. He could remember the soft touch Robin laid on his lips… He felt his face burning up again and had to shake the thought away.

“Uh-huh. It’s a new break-through in nanotech. We’ve managed to incorporate almost the same technology of my glove computer into thin silk. It’s not up to par, but considering earlier design capacities, this one takes the cake.” Robin said proudly. “The guys at Wayne Tech will have a field day once Bruce introduces it in a few months.”

The high pitched squeal of speakers being turned on got Wally’s attention away from watching his friend.

 _“Beloved Guests,”_ a girl’s voice spoke from the speakers planted around the venue. _“We apologize for the interruption, but your presence is requested at the ball-room for this event’s main speech, to be given by the birthday girl herself.”_

“Was that… Princess Juhainah?” Wally asked slowly.

“It was.” Robin answered.

“Why did she refer to herself in third person?”

“Don’t let the pink fluff fool you Wally. I’m only dressed as a spoiled princess.” Robin said, turning off his glove. “That doesn’t mean I understand them.”

Wally had to grin back at his friend. “Well, I guess we have to do as the birthday girl says and gather with everyone else at the ball-room.”

“You sure you can handle all the snobby people?” Robin asked, and it was only Wally’s amazing detective skills that allowed him to hear the genuine concern in those words.

“I can handle anything.” Wally assured. “Besides, I have you.”

For a split second, Robin looked dumbfounded. But then his smirk returned and he started leading Wally to the ball-room. “You’re just hungry and want me to cover for you while you wolf down half the buffet table.”

Wally laughed. “You know me too well Robin.”

“But of course.” Robin said, looking back with a smile. “What are best pals for?” Then the guy kicked off and ran.

“ _How_ can you run in those shoes?” Wally shouted to his fast-retreating friend. A familiar cackle (tweaked to sound a little on the girly side) that echoed in the now empty hallway answered him.

Wally chuckled as he watched his friend go… He wasn’t worried, the fact that Robin decided to run in plain sight instead of take a turn and disappear into thin air was a sign that the Boy Wonder was just being his playful self and didn’t plan on ditching Wally again. Robin always knew Kid Flash can catch up with him.

As Wally got ready to tap into the speedforce for a short dash and catch up with his friend, he couldn’t help but feel that somehow being stuck in a big room full of rich snobs while a spoiled princess delivered a speech in her honor will not be all that bad.

After all, he now had Robin with him.

 

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End Part Two

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. One more to go. :)


	3. Peice of Cake, Spare Me (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission goes on. They look for danger. They find it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard discalimers apply. Also warning for my poor writing skills and possible typos/grammar errors.

 

 

Strawberry Punch

A Young Justice fanfiction

By Synxailla

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Part Three: Piece of Cake, Spare Me (Part 2)

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Wally felt the slighter body next to him shift, trying to find a more comfortable position; a daunting challenge with the lack of space available. The warm body leaned against the speedster a bit and angled his head further to one side. Wally swallowed and released a sigh. He felt rather than heard the boy next to him release a small sigh of his own, infinitely quieter than the red-head's.

They were in a small, stuffy, secluded corner Robin claimed to hide in while standing by and watching the guests pile up inside the ball-room. There was little light in their hideout, which didn't matter because the brightly lit proceedings outside could be viewed clearly through the slits of the heavy draping; which also didn't matter because Wally wasn't really paying attention to that.

He was busy trying (and failing) to keep his brain from turning into incorrigible goo.

In the darkness of their small alcove, the speedster felt the smaller hand of his partner grab his upper arm and squeeze none too gently. Probably to get back some of his attention.

It worked.

Sort of... Wally's attention wasn't really tuned to communication because of his overloading senses at the moment. He opted to give a half-groan, half-grunt to signal he was listening… Or at least trying to. Besides, it was kind of hard to talk when one's mouth was busy doing other,  _important_  things.

"Shush Wally," the hero in the pink dress whispered. "You'll give away our position if you keep being that loud." The boy squished with him scolded. "I have half a mind to kick you out of here."

At that, Wally let his green eyes open a crack to inspect his friend in the dim light. He couldn't see much, he wasn't as adept at working in the dark as the Boy Wonder, but their many stealth missions gave him some practice and he used that to make out all he could of the boy with him.

Robin's brows were drawn in slight irritation, and he probably would've crossed his arms over his chest if they had room between them for such elaborate movement. His glossed lips were in a frown that didn't look much different from a pout. He breathed in a huff, some red staining his cheeks from the stuffy heat. But his dark blue eyes were so sharp, they were practically shouting a challenge Wally couldn't help but respond to.

"Aww, but Robin" Wally whined as he leaned closer and tightened his hold around his new trophy. "I can't help it. It's just soooo  _good_." He dared flash his big green eyes and stare them at Dick.

"Stop with the puppy-dog eyes." Robin told him flatly, not backing off. "You know I'm more of a stray-kitten person."

"Well I'd mewl cutely, but I'm afraid I'll never match up to your standards." Wally replied, rolling his eyes.

Robin snorted, "You won't even come close." He then smirked with an evil glint in his eyes. "But I meant what I said. Continue being loud and your fun stops. I'll kick you out.  _Immediately._ "

Fear lodged itself in Wally's throat, robbing him of his words for a few seconds. When he recovered, he spoke his mind.

" _Not fair dude!"_  Wally incorporated as much of a complaint as he could in a harsh whisper. "You can't take this away from me… It'll be like giving me a taste of heaven only to yank it away before I finish and leave me to wonder if it was just some too-good-to-be-true dream!" His voice held a touch of desperation, but he was too bothered with Robin's threat to worry about much else.

"Wally…" Robin looked the semi-hysterical speedster in the eye, and spoke softly "Don't you think you're being a little over-dramatic?" Then his slender shoulders shrugged, causing some strands of realistic dark brown hair to slide off and expose smooth skin. _Did the pink fluff have to be an off-shoulder dress?_  "It's just some pastry."

Wally gasped as if he'd just been sucker punched. Right in the solar plexus.

He recoiled dramatically and cradled his sweet trophy closer to himself and as far away from Robin as their little hiding space would allow.

"This is  _not_  just some pastry!" The spoon clanked against the bowl in his hand. "This is a slice of heaven." He looked softly at the delicious dessert, before lifting an accusing gaze at Dick. "You can't just start feeding me Crème brûlée and take it away before I'm done with it!"

"Okay, one: I didn't feed you that. You scanned the buffet table and snagged the first thing you deemed gobble-worthy before I dragged your tush in here." Robin countered, raising an un-amused brow "And two: that was like, five minutes ago. I watch you polish off  _three_  plates of cookies every Friday, in under two minutes. What's holding you up now?"

Before Wally could formulate an acceptable answer to Robin's rhetorical question, the shorter boy turned away to peek through the gap in the gigantic tapestry they were hidden behind of.

"Finish your Crème brûlée Wally. Almost everyone's out there now. We're can't stay in here much longer."

Wally grudgingly did as told and then set down the spoon and fancy platter carefully on the floor just as Robin was slipping out from behind the fancy drapery. The mission always took first priority when it came to Robin. Wally was resigned to that…

He was used to it enough that the sting of hurt in his chest was almost none-existent.

When the speedster in disguise stepped out, he had to squint a bit at the bright artificial lights. When his eyes adjusted he spotted Robin not too far away, standing alone and looking nonchalantly around. A perfect wallflower… Wally walked over.

"I don't get why we even bothered hiding back there for the past five minutes if we're going to eventually come out and suffer a boring speech along with everyone else anyway." Wally muttered with a frown he wasn't trying to conceal in the slightest. "What's the point?"

"The point is," Robin began with a serious look in his eyes. "I wanted to see where the guests were coming from and where they'll place themselves. You can tell a lot about a person by how and where he chooses to stand inside a room. For instance, an assassin is more likely to be off-center and behind most people, or up in hidden places. I've placed sensors up on sniping vantages. They'll act up if someone gets there…" Robin explained, still subtly scanning the area with sharp blue eyes.

"I didn't want anyone to see us watching them get cozy in case someone is smart enough to notice they're being watched," Robin continued, letting his pretty blue eyes casually sweep the ceilings and high arches of the room. "But of course, we need to be out here with everyone to respond ASAP in case of any unforeseen events. And besides, the best way to hide without looking suspicious is by blending in with the crowd."

All Wally could do was blink at the younger hero before a chuckle broke out from him. That caused Robin to turn a challenging look at him. Wally had to quickly defend himself.

"Chill Rob, that was in good intention." Wally explained, hands up in surrender. "It's just, you're amazing. I mean, yeah, I  _know_  you're good. But working with you one on one and being reminded  _how good_  you are, it's pretty, well… awesome."

Robin was silent for a moment. Then he smirked back at Wally's weak grin.

"You're lucky we're best friends and I'm a sucker for compliments, or else I wouldn't have bought that."

"You say that like you think I'm lying." Wally said, toning down his grin into a more serious look. "I don't lie to you."

Never to you.

Blue eyes glanced at him, reading him with a single look.

"Good to know." Robin said with a cheeky smile. "And I advice you not to try. I'd figure out the truth the second you do anyway."

They stood there and smiled at each other for a moment.

What Wally said was true. If there was one person he'd choose never to lie to, it would be Robin… And the reason was simply because Wally decided to pay Robin's own honesty in kind.

Wally wanted Dick to know how much he appreciated being the younger boy's confidant. That he was immensely touched that his best friend deemed him worthy enough to divulge his most guarded secrets to him. And that he treasured the trust Dick gave him so much…

So Wally promised himself he'd put his complete and utter trust back at his best friend, Dick Grayson; the person who gave him his own.

" _Good evening young ladies and gentlemen!"_ A loud voice from the speakers boomed around the room, making Kid Flash snap his attention back to the present. The ball-room dimmed and colored spotlights danced.  _"Presenting the lady of the night! The birthday girl herself! Her highness, Princess Juhainaaaaaah!"_

Applause that sounded suspiciously like reeled ones from old sitcoms exploded, compelling the other young guests to clap along. Unnecessary smoke hissed through the room, resulting in a thin fog to complete the dramatics.

"Is it just me, or did that announcer sound like he was introducing a champion boxer?" Wally whispered to Robin.

"Or a pro-wrestler." Robin narrowed his blue eyes in attempt to see through the smoke better. "Wally, we're going to have to get closer. Think you can stay traught?"

Wally sighed. He knew they'd have to "mingle" sooner or later… But to be honest, he'd rather they hide in that secluded corner for the whole mission with an unlimited supply of sweets.

"I'll suck it up." Wally said with sagging shoulders.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Robin said, and then a soft smile well-suited for his disguise as a late Marchioness' daughter graced his face. "Keep close, okay?" the boy in the pretty dress then twined their arms and started to walk towards the center of the crowd.

The further in they went, the more people around them were… Wally could feel eyes all over them; raking, staring, judging. Had Robin not been strapped to his arm and practically dragging him along, he was sure he'd choke and trip all over himself. He tried hard to keep his green eyes from looking at anyone and shuffled his clumsy feet along with his head bowed.

Suddenly, Robin stopped. Making Wally stop too and stand still with him. They were still a bit far from the middle of the room where all the excitement were taking place. Wally turned to his partner with a confused look.

And Robin answered with another dazzling smile and tugged Wally's arm down, making the taller boy bow a bit, and then Robin leaned up to whisper in the redhead's ear.

"You're being too tense. Don't mind the stares." Robin breathed in a happy sigh. "They're just jealous their dates aren't as good looking." And then the boy in pink leaned back down and gave Wally another pretty smile.

Wally looked at the beautiful smiling face in front of him and couldn't help but release an amused, breathy laugh… Robin grinned back and giggled at him.

Their little laugh trip caused more people to look their way, but somehow, Wally found he didn't care as much anymore. Let them stare. Why should that get in the way of having fun with Robin? Why should  _anything_  get in the way of having fun with Robin?

"Ready?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Wally answered. This time, he was the one who led the walk.

When they got to their destination, the exotic princess was already in the middle of her speech. It was mostly a welcome to the guests and a thank-you for the extravagant gifts. Eventually the speech moved to talk about the charitable projects the birthday girl was immersing herself in and a not-so-subtle bragging about her achievements in the international field of aiding the less fortunate and her successful educational and scientific establishments.

"Wow. She's as hot as her picture, but I didn't know she was this…boastful." Kid Flash whispered to the younger hero beside him. "I mean yeah, the advancement their country's making in biochemistry thanks to her initiative is great and all, but she's getting across as braggy to me."

"This is another of her games." Robin answered quietly. "By rubbing her successful ventures in these kids' faces, they'll get competitive. Before you know it, they'll be scrambling and stepping all over each other's designer shoes to be involved in any kind of charity projects or mass educational efforts to outdo each other… I've seen Bruce use this tactic countless of times to get more people involved in productive, showy, charity projects."

"So you're saying she's a good girl?" Wally asked, giving his partner a raised eyebrow. Wally was under the impression Robin thought of the princess herself as a potential threat to the little politicians.

"I'm saying she's a good manipulator." Robin clarified, blue eyes following the princess's every gesture, looking for signs Wally can't see.

The birthday girl continued on with her speech. But Wally tuned her out, afraid that he'll be driven into boredom and fall asleep on his feet. He entertained himself by drawing superhero logos on the pattern of the ceiling and chandeliers.

After tracing his and Uncle Barry's lightning bolt on the ceiling's cracks, spotting a crossed slash that made Manhunter's and Miss Martian's 'X' was child's play. He also managed to connect five dots on the chandelier to form Wonder Woman's 'W', and upon titling his head 45 degrees to the left, Wally found the pattern could double as Batman's trademark Bat-logo.

The imaginary logo made Wally frown a bit as his mind found a new issue to ponder on…

How come Robin's superhero logo wasn't the same as his mentor's?

Well, aside from probably having to change his vigilante name into 'Batboy' or 'Batlad', what other appallingly heinous reason was there for Robin not to don the mark of his mentor?

Kid Flash and Aqualad had long since been carrying their mentors' logo. So had Artemis and M'gann when their hero careers started… Even Speedy used to wear the same uniform as Green Arrow, and even after going solo, the touch of the older archer was carried over into his new name: Red Arrow. Heck, Conner's shirts bore Superman's S-shield, and he was still in an awkward glaring and grunting terms with the older Kryptonian.

The young speedster always thought it was because they were continuing a legacy. They donned similar names or bore the marks of their mentors (or in Supey's case, unwitting DNA donor) because they were heirs of sorts; the chosen ones to follow in their older partners' footsteps. Those next in line…

So… What of Robin then? Wasn't he the first to be taken on as a sideki— _er_ partner? And now that he thought about it, Robin was the most dedicated guy to his mentor (except for maybe Kaldur, but having your king as your mentor can make you partial, Wally guessed.)

The Boy Wonder always followed Batman's rules and commands without second thoughts (with the exception of maybe that whole Cadmus thing, but everyone was in rebel-mode that night with the independence day fireworks and all). Didn't that make the kid the perfect candidate for a heroic legacy heir?

There were numerous similarities between mentor and protégée, Robin learned most of his moves from Bats, but now that Wally really thought about it, their styles differ in great amounts too.

Batman's moves were calculated, efficient, and practiced. Robin was more likely to work in real-time tactics and fly around his enemies, confusing them with lithe movements before taking them down, hard. Batman was this silent shadow of a rock villains flee from and Robin was the clever boy with unconventional schemes that never failed to bring the bad guys down…

Robin's technique was always more spirited and he looked like he was having lots of fun while doing it… Wally can't forget all those proud smirks and witty taunts his friend always threw at the bad guys, followed close by the Boy Wonder's signature cackle.

It never really showed that Robin was molding himself after his mentor, or after any other hero for that matter, despite the Boy Wonder looking up to members of The League… The Boy Wonder had his own style and flare.

And that's when Wally realized, with a great amount of admiration laced with envy, that Robin wasn't continuing anyone else's legacy…

He was making his own.

Applause exploded around them as the princess finished off her speech, but Wally couldn't be moved from where he stood, watching his best friend with silent awe, feeling his chest swell with pride at having someone like Dick be part of his life.

Robin turned and regarded him with questioning blue eyes at the way he continued to stare, but Wally didn't give any explanation.

He was only snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a deep protesting grumble…from his stomach.

It was Dick's turn to laugh hysterically.

"Mhmph-fwah! Hahahahaha!"

Dick's laughter was gaining the two of them odd looks and more stares. Wally found himself blushing with embarrassment but the younger teen just kept on laughing. The redhead had to grab his friend, in attempt to knock back sense into him before Robin's laugh quieted down to giggles.

"Jeez, Robin. So much for avoiding unwanted attention."

" _Sorry…_ " the other boy wheezed out through his laugh. "It's just such a classic Wally move that I cracked up."

Robin's cheeks were red and his breathing was heavier from his hysterics. And the mirth in Robin's blue eyes made it impossible to hold a grudge at him.

He then realized he was practically hugging the boy in his attempt to quiet him down. Wally immediately (reluctantly?) let go.

"Y-yeah well it's not funny." Wally muttered, trying to dispel the weird feeling in his chest to bring back some semblance of normalcy. "You know my metabolism calls for special needs."

Robin giggled one last time before answering. "Yeah, yeah. Crème brûlée won't cut it, I know. C'mon, let's get some real food in you before you faint on me, oh fragile maiden."

"I'm not the one in a dress." Wally grumbled as he was led by Robin to the general direction of the buffet tables.

"I'm not the one in constant distress from food shortage." Robin shot back with a teasing smirk.

When they reached said buffet, Robin took a fluffy pink muffin and nibbled at it. Wally knew the other boy didn't really feel like eating. He most probably just got the pastry for show, while keeping Wally company while he refueled… Robin turned to him and gave a smile. Wally grinned back.

He couldn't have asked for a more awesome best friend.

_

―X―X―X―

_

It was on Wally's third plate that someone made their way over to them.

"Hello." said the newcomer, wearing the same fraud smile as everyone else in the vicinity. He was a very tall guy and well built, but his facial features suggested he was pretty young, probably early twenties.

"Good evening." Robin answered the tall guy for the both of them, since Wally was still chewing his last bite.

The guy's dark brown eyes shifted to regard Robin with a sharp look and Wally felt the crazy impulse to smash his plate on the new guy's face…

"Sorry to interrupt." The tall guy said with sweetness in his voice so fake, even Wally didn't have trouble recognizing it. "It's just, I've been to every event organized by Princess Juhainah…" the guy paused to look at Wally and Robin's faces with an evil looking glint in his eyes. "And I don't remember ever seeing either of you from previous days."

Wally fought to keep the tension he was feeling inside from showing on his face… He could sense hostility all over this tall guy. And the look they were being given wasn't the least bit friendly. He started slowly lowering his plate to the table. Beside him, Robin stopped toying with the muffin on his hands and a serious look was on his blue eyes.

This was bad, they couldn't have any slip ups about their covers or the mission would be jeopardized… And Robin won't like that one bit.

"It's actually our first time attending one of her events." Wally found himself answering in a smooth voice with an easy smile on his face. Freaking himself out, but keeping it from showing.

The tall guy cocked an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes sir." Robin agreed, completely in character of a polite young noblewoman. "Our country has been having a difficult time for some years now. We've been focused on our internal rehabilitation for the most part, but we've made considerable progress and the King was finally confident enough to restart building international connections."

"My uncle heard of the Princess's celebration and thought it was a great opportunity to send us and reacquaint with the world outside." Wally said, as smooth as butter on the outside. On the inside, he was watching for any slight signs of violence from the tall guy and readying himself in grabbing Robin and breaking into a mad dash if the threat ever got real.

"So you're nephew of the king?" The way the guy said it sounded like a dubious sarcastic question.

Wally gave a polite nod anyway.

"See, I don't even remember seeing your faces in the files of our potential guest-list, let alone reading about your backgrounds… Where did you say you were from,  _exactly_?" The guy asked, and the look on his face said that if their answer sounded fishy, they would find themselves thrown out of the party…or worse.

Wally opened his mouth to give the name of their supposed country but a strong-willed voice beat him to it.

"Accerlia. They are from the Principality of Accerlia."

Three heads turned and saw Princess Juhainah walking over to their end of the long table. The wickedly proud smile she had on while she was delivering her speech earlier was replaced by a tight disapproving frown directed at the tall guy.

The prom queen had arrived. And she looked pissed.

"Good evening Princess Juhainah," Robin greeted with a small curtsey and a soft smile as the girl got close. "That's a lovely gown."

"Why, thank you Robin. I designed it myself." The princess answered with a proud smile, more genuine than the one she wore on stage.

Wally snapped his head to give a wide-eyed stare at his smiling partner.

" _You know her?"_  The redhead couldn't help asking. He heard his question be echoed by the tall guy who was harassing them with invasive interrogation and evil looks two seconds ago.

Princess Juhainah's smile melted off and a haughty look overtook her face as she turned to the other guy.

"Yes Melark, I know her." The princess answered "Miss Robin Northgale and I have had the pleasure of meeting earlier. We've engaged in some small talk and I must say, I've grown quite fond of her endearing personality. But this isn't about that…"

Wally saw the princess' hazelnut eyes narrow in a glare and the tall guy (Melark?) almost flinched.

"This is the twenty-third time I've caught you harassing my guests, and I will ask of you the same thing I've asked the previous twenty-two times, but I expect you to actually listen and comply this time. Please  _stop_ scaring off my guests."

Wally almost released a chuckle but Robin elbowed him in the side. He resolved to biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the expression Melark had on… The tall, dark guy had wide panicked eyes and his mouth kept opening and closing, trying and failing to form a viable argument.

"But Juna,—"

"I will _not_  hear excuses." The princess snapped. "Melark, I made you my head of security because you've been with me ever since we were little. But I don't want you turning into a scathing man suspicious of every other shadow on the walls I walk by…"

"I'm just trying to keep you safe." Melark muttered with eyes lowered to the side.

At this, the princess placed her hand in his and gave a squeeze. She didn't let go even after Melark directed his attention back to her.

"I know." Princess Juhainah answered just as quietly. "You're doing a marvelous job… But understand that you can't put me in a glass case and keep people away."

Melark gave a stiff nod and the Princess smiled and let go of his hand… She turned back to Wally and Robin with a refreshing smile.

"I apologize about my friend. He's a bit overprotective."

"Oh please don't. It's just normal for your head of security to look out for your well-being." Robin said, sounding overly polite and humble and formal. "And I'm sure sir Melark meant us no harm."

"Yes," Wally said shrugging. "It's not as if he'd have locked us up in a dungeon and throw away the key, leaving us to rot there for the rest of our lives, making our families worry about our absence and stir up another civil war by having them turn on each other by giving false information about our abduction."

The princess gave a laugh as if the idea of kidnapping and a nation at civil war was so amusing. When she was done, she wiped the corner of her eyes of imaginary tears of laughter and gave a wide smile to Wally.

"You must be Duke Wallace Westcorn." The princess said. "You're just as funny as Robin said you are."

That caught Wally's attention and made his brows shoot up.

"Robin talked about me?"

"Oh don't worry. It wasn't anything like street gossip." The princess said with a shrug and a smirk. "She seems to like you too much to say anything negative about you."

"Oh  _really_?" Wally said and gave a slow side-glance to the shorter hero.

To his surprise, no wisecrack reply came from the Robin… And then he remembered the boy was in character, and it must not have been appropriate for daughters of Marchionesses to snap back at young Dukes.

And Wally was surprised to find out Robin could apparently blush on will. The pink on his cheeks and the tensing of slender shoulders coupled with the lip biting and evading of eye-contact made for one realistic shy-girl show.

If only Robin would react like that every time he was teased, Wally might've considered renewing his efforts in that department. As it was, the speedster knew that this was probably the only time he'd see the sight of a flustered Robin, so he allowed himself to enjoy it.

"Cute." Wally heard himself say.

A split second later, shock and confusion sunk themselves into his brain.

Where did that come from?

It seemed he wasn't the only one taken by surprise by the word that just came out of his mouth. Dick whipped his head to give Wally a wide-eyed unbelieving look… Wally mirrored the other boy's expression for a few moments, which he was slightly worried about since he found it adorable on the smaller guy, but then he figured  _eh, what the heck?_

He gave Robin a wink and smiled.

And then the Boy Wonder's blue eyes widened further and the red on his face intensified and began to spread down his neck… Wally's green eyes couldn't help but follow the blush down to the other boy's collarbone before he managed to force himself to stop.

"Oh my!" Princess Juhainah exclaimed sounding giddy and giggly, reminding Wally there were other people with him and his best friend. "I think Miss Robin needs something to help her cool down." She grabbed on the arm of the tall guy and started pulling the bully away. "Mel and I will go and get you two some refreshments. I'll leave Miss Robin in your care Duke Wallace."

And then Wally and Robin found themselves alone once again in the company of each other…

Which gave Robin the perfect chance to land a not so gentle punch on Wally's upper arm.

"Ouch!" Wally flinched and rubbed his bicep with his other hand. "Dude.  _Harsh_. "

"Shut up. You deserve it." Robin replied, a familiar deadly look crossing his face. It was usually reserved for those rare times Wally managed to pull a successful prank on the other vigilante. It was a look promising ice cold, stone hard revenge.

"What did I do?" Wally asked in a near desperate voice. He didn't want Robin to harbor another grudge against him tonight. He was out of carnations.

"I can't believe you called me  _cute_!" Robin leaned up to snarl at Wally's face and dug his gloved index finger into Wally's frilled chest.

 _I can't believe it either!_  Is what Wally planned on saying, but what came out of his mouth was:

"Well it's true."

Which resulted into another awkward blush from both of them.

Sadly, Robin recovered fast and shook his pretty head to let the blood on his face flow again… Shame, he looked adorable with a blush.

"Okay I'll rephrase that. I can't believe you called me cute in front of potential threats!" Robin didn't seem in a forgiving mood. "You made me lose focus! What would have happened if they turned on us and I was too busy gawking to react in time?"

Oh… So this was just another concern about the mission going down the toilet due to lagged reflex.

Wally didn't know if he should be relieved or disappointed… He settled on just giving an answer to Robin's rhetoric question.

"I would've run both of us away to some place where we could contact the rest of the Team and report about said threats and then regroup and bust them together. Mission: success." Wally knew that answer was true, and that Dick shouldn't have a problem with that.

"Then why did you wink at me like that, huh?" Robin snapped, giving Wally the stink-eye.

"I…I don't know." Wally answered, sounding confused himself. "I guess I just felt like it." He shrugged.

"You can't call me cute and then proceed to wink at me Wally!" Robin nearly shouted, indignant and annoyed. "Especially not because you  _just felt like it_!"

Wally blinked at the amount of displeasure his friend was in. "Why not? What's the big deal?"

"Because that's what you do to the girls you flirt with on a whim." Robin seethed, a bit of hurt creeping on his glaring eyes. "And I am NOT one of them."

Oh, so now this was about Dick not wanting to be treated like a girl… Wally guessed he was sort of in the wrong there. But he didn't do it on purpose. It was a natural reaction. None of it was because he wanted to mess with his friend or something… But if Dick wanted Wally to stop it, he would.

"I know you're not, Robin." Wally answered with an apologetic gaze. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Dick's tense shoulders sagged, but it didn't look like it was from relief as much as from more weight being added to them. Wally had to wonder at that… But before he could proceed to think about it, let alone ask Dick; their new ''friends'' returned with four glasses of pink beverage carried by the Melark-guy on a golden tray.

"Here we are." The princess said giving Wally and Robin a publicity smile. "These should help."

Wally, wanting to busy himself with something other than worrying about how he managed to seriously offend Robin twice that night, immediately grabbed a glass from the tray the taller guy was holding and chugged it down after a hasty thanks to the Princess.

From his peripheral view, he saw Robin give a weak smile to the princess and her lackey and then took a sip from his own offered glass.

The drink was bubbly and tasted of strawberries. With an aftertaste of something minty and a tangy flavor Wally couldn't pinpoint. There was a slight burn as the liquid went down Wally's throat, but the minty aftertaste quickly chased it away. It lasted less than a fraction of a second but Wally felt the warmth travel down to his belly before it disappeared as fast as it came.

The redhead looked down at his now empty glass with a doubtful frown.

"Was that alcoholic?"

Robin snapped his attention back at Wally and slowly considered his own empty glass with an examining look. The princess snorted rather un-ladylike and gave Wally an I-know-you-can't-help-it-but-don't-be-stupid look. She sipped her own drink.

"I assure you Duke Westcorn, we don't serve anything here not allowed to minors." Princess Juhainah gestured to her half-empty glass. "This is simply a carbonated modification of strawberry punch, made from fresh strawberries and pure love." She giggled.

"Well, it's certainly delicious." Robin said with another small polite smile, probably making up for Wally's rude almost-accusation. Psh, as if these people were worth the beautiful smile Robin was gracing upon them in lieu of an apology.

The speedster felt a strange tug at his chest watching Robin smile.

"Thank you Miss Robin. I made the recipe myself." The princess announced with a broad smile, as if making a recipe for fruit punch is an achievement of the same level as her charity foundations.

Kid Flash fought the scoff itching to get out of him from listening to Juhainah's repetitive boasting. Wally forced a fake smile on his face as the birthday girl giggled… When he heard Robin softly laughing along with the princess a split-second later, the forced smile on the Wally's face turned to a look of mystified epiphany.

Crystal bells… Wally heard them ringing. Like wind chimes dancing in the summer breeze. But he'd never heard them before (There's a song in there somewhere). Did Robin always laugh like that? Yes he did… How come he's only realizing now what a beautiful laugh Robin had?

"You must really love strawberries." Robin said to the prom queen, and Wally found his sight following the enthralling movement of his pink lips.

He suddenly felt warmer.

"Strawberry juice is my favorite drink you see. We don't have the fruit back at my country, but I do so love them." Princess Juhainah answered. "Though I tend to draw away when they're baked in pastries, I like them best fresh."

"I like strawberries too." Robin said with a blinding smile that tugged on Wally's chest again.

Wally knew that wasn't a lie, his best friend really did like the small pink fruit. There was this one time Dick shared a basket full of ripe strawberries with him. They ate it in Wally's kitchen with whip cream.

Everything tastes good with whip cream: strawberries, mangoes, pies, tarts, cookies, ice cream, pancakes,  _everything_. Wally bet Robin is delicious with whip crea—…

Whoa, wait, WHAT?

Wally made a loud noise not unlike a scared squeak at the back of his throat, which made the people he's around of turn their eyes on him. Juhainah's hazelnut eyes gave him a surprised but curious look. Melark's dark brown eyes threw him a mocking look. And Robin's big blue eyes looked up at him with a soft worried gaze.

Wally felt his heart speed up as fast as he could run. Maybe even faster.

Wally couldn't take his eyes away from Robin's, not even after his heart started hammering. It felt like he was pinned by those blue gems… He watched them go from soft in worry, to fractionally wide in concealed panic. Maybe his best friend managed to see that there's something  _seriously_ wrong with the speedster.

"Are you okay Wally?" Robin asked, in that wonderful lulling voice of his.

In spite of his brain feeling like mush and his head feeling lighter as he continued to stare at Robin, Wally managed a small nod.

"Are you sure Duke Westcorn? You look a little feverish…" He heard Princess Juhainah say. Her voice seemed much like a haze compared to Robin's crystal tones. "We have medical personnel behind the foyer. They would be more than happy to have a look at you."

No. Wally can't have that. If he agreed, he and Robin would have to put their patrols on hold and Robin wouldn't appreciate the mission being jeopardized… Or worse, Robin might think he was dead weight and send Wally off behind the foyer and continue the rounds alone.

And Wally didn't want that. He can't have that. He finally found Robin, and practically went through hell trying to convince him to work together. He won't leave his side again, no matter what.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Wally said, and quickly thought of a distraction to occupy the nosy princess. "You have a beautiful corsage your highness." He spouted after his eyes landed on the older girl's wrist. "Jasmine, right?"

The princess instantly switched to talking about her corsage and dropped the matter of Wally being sent to the medical bay… Wally would've breathed a sigh of relief, but he made the mistake of looking at his best friend and found himself being regarded with a  _'you're hiding something and I don't like it, and I'm so going to find out, just you wait'_  glare.

Wally felt his face heating up again, but this time, he fought to keep some sense in his brain and gave his best apologetic smile to Robin.

" _Don't worry about it."_  Wally mouthed to his shorter friend, whom having been trained by Batman, Wally was positive could read lips.

Robin never let his doubting look waver, but he was distracted when the Princess stopped talking about herself and directed the conversation back at the boy disguised as a very pretty girl… Wally took the opportunity to take a couple of steadying breaths and calm his madly racing heart.

_Come on Westcorn, get it together!_

"Your corsage is adorable too, Miss Robin. It suits your ensemble."

"Oh, thank you Princess." Robin answered and looked down at the flower tied to his wrist with a passing smile.

Wally remembered being the one to tie that corsage on Robin's hand. He remembered how thin and delicate that hand looked, and how capable and strong it felt against his own… And he remembered how despite the many tugs and pulls and life-threatening glares, Wally didn't let go of that hand.

"So you like carnations? Do tell me."

Deep blue eyes gave Wally a fleeting look, making the speedster's chest swell before he had a chance to dodge.

"Yes." Robin answered as he turned to the Princess. He pursed his lips briefly, as if hesitating on what to say next, but eventually he said: "My mother… She loved this flower, back when…" Robin let the sentence drop off.

Wally instantly realized it wasn't an act.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Princess Juhainah promptly piped up. She looked somewhere between embarrassed and horrified at what she'd done. "I didn't mean to bring up the late Marchioness Mary." It seemed their fake-with-a-touch-of-truth backstory was already known by the birthday girl.

Robin's eyes looked tinged with sadness. The genuine kind. A look Wally rarely saw on his friend.

Dick was always trying to mask his sadness, always trying to appear bright, happy, and strong. Like he couldn't be touched by the world and the demented people in it… But Wally knew Dick got sad from time to time, as everyone did. Usually, he got sad whenever he missed his parents.

"It's okay Princess Juhainah. You don't need to apologize." Robin politely waved his silken gloved hands in gentle dismissal. The strain in his eyes and voice so well concealed that only Wally noticed.

It must've been difficult for Dick. To go on with the act of being a royal heir after being reminded of his mom… It's hard to continue fabricating sweet fiction when bitter reality keeps gnawing at your thoughts.

"No, that was insensitive of me. I shouldn't have pried." The princess amended, but she seemed relieved at Robin's reply nonetheless.

Wally felt his heart ache for his friend and he wanted to just grab him in a hug. But he couldn't, because Dick would just shrug him off or push him away. He'd never felt more powerless. It's been like this ever since they became friends… Dick made it seem like he's never bothered by anything, that he can handle everything on his own, and that he doesn't anybody's help.

Wally guessed he should admire his friend because of that inner strength of his. But deep down, Wally knew that he resents it… Because even if it was just once, he wanted Dick to rely on him for something. He wanted Dick to feel safe with him, just like how Wally always felt comfortable around him.

"Your mom's tastes are awesome." Wally found himself saying. He watched as Robin perked up to listen. "Carnations are great for lots of things. They contain substances scientifically proven to soothe the nervous system, and reduce inflammation and swelling."

Dick blinked once and then smiled. Wally's heart fluttered.

"Also, they don't wilt easily after being cut." Dick said

"That too." Wally answered with a grin. Feeling like a million bucks for making Dick smile again. "Makes for practical decorations."

Something beeped whisperingly, not meant for everyone to hear. Wally recognized it as Robin's special alarm. Something must've set off a sensor Boy Wonder planted. Said Boy Wonder already looked itching to tap into his silk gloves to check it out.

"It was nice seeing you again Princess Juhainah." Robin said, turning to the prom queen. "I'm very sorry to cut this meeting short, but we're here to renew Accerlia's international connections. I'm afraid we have many others in your wonderful party we have to talk to."

"Oh, yes of course, I understand. You're on a mission." Juhainah said with a nod and smile. Wally fought hard not to twitch at that statement. "I'll be seeing you later I guess." She turned to Wally. "It was nice meeting you too Duke Westcorn, you take care of Miss Robin now."

"Will do." Wally answered. Then he gave a bow. "If you'll excuse us princess…" Beside him, Robin curtsied before once again twining their arms together and leading the walk away.

_

―X―X―X―

-

"We need to get out of this ballroom." Robin muttered. Game-face on and totally refocused on the mission. "Somewhere we can't be seen, so I can check on the alarm without interruption." Wally didn't know why he found Robin's determination so… dreamy.

"Uh-huh." The speedster answered, his green eyes never leaving his friend's form. His arm felt much too tingly from having Robin latch on to it. "Dark alcove?"

"Yeah sure, but not the one we've used earlier. There'll be people there now." Robin answered, still walking swiftly and scanning around. They just exited the ballroom when his blue eyes perked up. "Over here." Robin said, once again leading Wally to his chosen destination.

Wally had no complaints about being dragged around.

Sooner than Wally could blink, he was in a small, dark place with Robin pressed up beside him again… This time though, it felt different. For one, he felt warmer, and two, his heart was hammering madly. He was surprised Dick didn't notice… Then again, the other boy did have the mission as a valid distraction.

A familiar soft-blue light glowed around them and Wally saw Robin fiddling with his high-tech silken gloves. The light shone on Dick's face, making his blue eyes light up. He had on a look that's so focused and determined as his other hand quickly flew over the keyboard of the floating display.

Wally swore his heart stopped.

"Okay, here we go." Robin muttered as the holo-display morphed into some kind of map with a little blue blinking dot in the far left corner. "The signal came from… The kitchen?" He sounded rather surprised. He scooted closer to Wally to show the speedster the display better.

Wally's breath hitched as he felt the firm and warm body of his best friend covered in layers of fabric press up closer against him.

"We're going to have to go here and check the alert out without bumping to any delays or another international gate-crashing accusatory chit-chat." Robin pointed with his other hand to the blinking dot. "It'd be best if we cut through behind the foyer and slip pass the east wing." He moved his hand along the display to the mentioned places. Wally had trouble deciding whether to dodge the hand dangerously close to his head or grab it and nuzzle his cheek on soft silk. He opted to just stay absolutely still.

"A-alright." Wally nodded, dazed. He wanted to ask for another rundown of their route again, to see if Robin would press closer, but miraculously decided against it.

The scent of carnations, strawberries, cotton candy, and Robin was making his head feel lighter. Wally didn't want to risk being a floating head. God knows Robin won't find floating heads kissable. So he breathed through his mouth in shallow silent gasps.

"I'm radioing Kaldur to give him a heads up." Robin said, and proceeded to do just that. Too bad the shorter boy had to lean away from Wally in order to fiddle with the communicator in his ear. "Robin to Aqualad, KF and I are going to check something out in the kitchen—."

As Robin continued to brief their leader of their little detour, Wally found his eyes practically glued to his every slight movement. Wally found them…enchanting. The guy possessed this  _grace_  that just made every little thing he did seem like a freaking high-class ballet routine combined with deadly ninja moves and sprinkled with a dash of free-flying.

And when they're executing missions or in serious training, Robin would get this  _look._  This amazingly determined look, with his blue eyes positively flaming, and his whole demeanor somehow getting even more confident and sure… Wally couldn't help but want to follow him through the ends of the world.

 _You're hot when you're in mission-mode._  Wally was openly staring at Robin, almost not caring if he looked like a creeper.

Robin was too busy talking to his radio to notice him anyway.

"We'll report back when see what caused the alarm." said the younger boy, still facing away from Wally. "Robin out." Then he tapped his earpiece and finally, finally turned back again to look at Wally. "We should head out. Ready?"

Wally felt a giddy borderline-insane smile cross his face as he slowly nodded "Yeah." He felt his cheeks heating up like some school-girl, but he relied on the dark to cover for him.

Kid Flash couldn't care more if Robin just asked him to go sabotage an alien mothership and fall into certain doom with him. He'd still gladly follow.

"Then let's go." Robin grabbed the red-head's wrist before leading them out of the alcove and onto their next big adventure.

Soon, they were out into the main hall and past the corridors. The farther they went, the less dense the crowd got. Wally was a bit surprised to find that his mood didn't get better with the lack of stuffy brats around them. His eyes trained down to Robin's grip still on his hand… Maybe it's because his mood couldn't get any better.

Wally couldn't help chuckling as they skipped past the foyer. At that, Robin turned back to regard him with a questioning glance.

"Something up?" Robin asked over his realistic brown hair and slender shoulder. A bit of worry was lacing his tone.

"Nothing." Wally answered with a slow shake of his head. "Just having fun." He smiled sincerely.

"Are you sure you're fine Wally?" Robin asked again. "You did look feverish earlier… And you still look a bit flushed."

_Aww. Robbie-poo's worried about me!_

Wally could just melt at those intense blues gazing at him with genuine concern… But if he did that, he might as well kiss this mission with Robin goodbye. The kid looked ready to double back and deposit him to that medical team behind the foyer if he was confirmed sick.

Priority one was staying with Robin.

"It must've been just spiked nerves or whatever." Wally said, trying to sound nonchalant, heavy on the  _non_. "Don't sweat it. Besides, with my metabolism, it'll pass through my system quickly. Speedsters aren't known for getting  _fevers_."

Dick seemed to consider it for a moment. Wally held his breath and crossed his fingers; the ones not in his best friend's grip… Finally Dick gave a sigh of resignation, which Wally took as good news.

"Fine. But we'll have you checked up right after this mission." Robin muttered, much like a kid who's been forced to compensate for a mach-3 mountain bike with a tricycle with a pink basket. "And I mean  _right after._  As soon as we zeta back to the mountain. And I'll hear no complaints."

"Yeah, okay, sure." Wally agreed immediately. Happy as happy can be about not having been sent to the sick-bay. "You're the best Rob!"

Blue eyes rolled "I know." Robin replied with a smirk.

Any other time, Wally might've answered that with a quip about the other boy's (lack of) humility. But at the moment, all Wally found himself doing was admiring Dick's smirking lips.

Wally thought really hard about it, and he was sure there were many reasons why thinking about how those wonderfully looking lips would feel against his own was wrong, but he couldn't seem to grasp even a single reason and hold on to it long enough to be appalled at the direction his thoughts kept on steering towards.

It was like; his mind had a mind of its own.

And besides sounding totally weird, Wally was sure there was something else really wrong with that statement.

They continued walking, almost running past the east wing now. There was no one else around at this point. That, or Wally's senses refused to recognize anyone else but Robin in his presence…

"The kitchen's just through here." Robin mentioned, leading the speedster through an inconspicuous hallway, smaller than the standard of the fancy place. The walls were also rather plain, there weren't any expensive looking paintings or huge draperies covering tiny alcoves…pity that last one. The hall clearly was meant for the use of service-crew and not for the all-important guests.

Not that Wally minded the loss of rich paraphernalia, quite the opposite really, but all the change in their surroundings still failed to get his attention off of his best friend.

There was a faint shuffle, and the next thing Wally knew, Robin had him pinned against another wall and the other boy was pressed close again, so very close. But unlike the calm way he leaned close before to show Wally the map, Robin now pressed against the redhead with a sense of urgency. Wally felt the other's boy's heart thumping hard from where Robin's chest was pressed up against his own.

He never felt so close to fainting before.

Wally barely registered the quiet but snappy click of a door closing. Vaguely, he wondered how he hadn't noticed the door Robin had dragged him inside of before his back was thrown flat against cold cement… Though as soon the wind was knocked out of him by a very pretty boy in a pink dress pressing up against him, he promptly lost any care he might've had.

He gasped, and immediately regretted doing so when his olfactory senses were again attacked viciously by the overwhelming scent of carnations, strawberries, cotton candy, and  _Robin_.

His stomach was in a mad state of flurry and knots. When it came to a point that Wally felt like butterflies were about to burst from his stomach, he decided to try and give out a warning, so that Robin could have a chance to get ready against an onslaught of crazy fluttering multi-colored-winged insects hell-bent on making tummies explode.

"Robi-mpff!"

But Wally didn't have the chance to give out a warning, because a hand covered in soft silk seemed pretty intent on smushing his mouth.

"Shh." Robin said, leaning up and pressing impossibly closer. Wally replied with a muffled squeak.

Moments later, Wally's fuzzy mind vaguely registered the sound of shuffling footsteps coming from outside the utility closet they're stuffed inside of. They were the steps of busy people bustling about and hurrying with jobs they didn't particularly like, but became dedicated to over the long years anyway… And they didn't give any indication of settling down anytime soon.

The speedster felt Robin's shoulders sag in disappointment.

"So much for taking advantage of their 10 o'clock coffee-break." Robin quietly snorted, giving a glare to the closed door. "Looks like we're doing this old-school." And then he removed his hand from Wally's face and moved away, leaving the redhead feeling a rushing sense of biting cold.

Robin moved to the opposite wall of the small room, but he might as well have moved a thousand miles away for the aching sense of longing that was engulfing Wally as he stared at his best friend's back. He lifted his hand to reach out, but Robin just seemed so far away and with his back firmly turned to Wally like that, he seemed like he could care less about a groveling pathetic loser like Wally…

His chest twisted in a hurt he can't make sense of, it robbed him of his voice and blocked his airway so he couldn't even manage a gasp. Wally bowed his head and planted the hand that couldn't reach Dick over his aching chest and squeezed it into a hard fist. This time, he literally was on the verge of blacking out, and it's not just wishful thinking.

And then…

"Wally?"

Dick called out to him. And as if by magic (or a phenomenon yet to be scientifically explained) Wally could breathe again. He blinked his green eyes down at his shiny shoes and took an experimental inhale. He was dumbfounded at how well that worked. There was still that stubborn ache in his chest, but darn it all if he was going to let that keep him down.

Taking a couple of nanoseconds to steel himself, Wally planted his feet firmly and began straightening his back. He didn't know exactly when his head became a dubstep of throbbing too, but he was acutely aware of it now for some reason. He lifted his heavy head, having to fight multiple random bursts of pain in his cranium from doing so.

Upon finally gazing at Dick's blue eyes, Wally was never gladder he made himself look up. The drilling in his head stopped and the ache in his chest dulled to a drone…

Wally was no genius, (okay, yeah he is) but his muffled thinking sort of figured out that these phantom aches could totally be kept at bay… if he was with Dick.

 _Because_ , as his brain's new-found logic told him,  _Dick can make everything alright, just stick with him and you'll be gold, no—even better, you'll be platinum._

Better answer him then, instead of just staring into his deep blue eyes like some creeper.

"Uh, yeah Robin?" Wally was immensely proud his voice didn't shake.

"Give me a boost?" Dick said, one gloved hand lifted and finger pointing up to a square metal-covering high on the wall.

A vent entrance…

Old school it is.

Robin was so considerate. He made sure the pointy heels of his shoes didn't get anywhere near digging into Wally's hands as the speedster gave the younger vigilante the boost he needed to reach the vent. Robin made short and quiet work of removing the metal cover. After that was done, the boy in pink gestured and Wally unlaced his hands. Robin touched down quietly on the ground and placed the square metal on the floor.

"Thanks." Whispered Dick.

"Anytime." Wally answered, wanting to wag his tail, and feeling sad upon remembering he didn't have one.

"Well KF," Robin looked back at him with a grin that made the tips of Wally's fingers tingle, "looks like we're going to have to take the high-road to the kitchen."

At that the speedster snorted and chortled.

"Dude, that was lame." Wally replied through his snickers. Robin shrugged. "Okay, okay. Ladies first." Wally dipped to a low bow and swept his arms to gesture at the vent.

"Such a gentleman." Robin cooed playfully. "Better keep that under wraps or the girls will drown you in hugs and kisses."

Wally managed to raise a dubious eyebrow at his best friend. Robin rolled his eyes again.

"Trust me," Dick said, like he was about to impart great knowledge based on his life-experience "those fancy dinners Bruce threw together was no picnic for me on the count of I had to be  _nice_ … And this may surprise you, but many girls like nice boys."

Wally found himself wondering if there was a way he could get Dick to sneak him inside the next Wayne event so he could try and keep those annoying girls at bay… He also wondered how many hugs and kisses those ladies had landed on Dick and if he could someday top it.

"So, let's head up." Robin said suddenly, bringing Wally out of his… admittedly unusual thoughts.

"Huh? Uh, right!"

And then there was a swish of air as Robin jumped up into the open air duct. Wally looked up over and couldn't help but be impressed again at how Robin moved in perfect ease in his current get-up of a fluffy dress. He really did pull off the dress wonderfully. And it looked very, very authentic. As Robin finally eased inside the vents, Wally was presented with a view of the hundreds of folds of his best friend's skirts…

A corner of Wally mind wondered just  _how_  authentic Robin's current outfit was. As far as he saw, pink ribbons and black laces decorated the dress nicely… but would he find black lace in all the appropriate places? Like, under the skirts for example.

Before the image could properly draw itself in the speedster's head, he physically shook it. Hard.

_Bad thoughts! Heel!_

Once Wally re-routed his mind and rid his face of the heavy blush, he picked up the discarded air duct metal cover before he jumped up and slipped inside the vents as well.

Wally carefully placed the metal square over the hole, and once satisfied it wouldn't look obvious to everybody else that it's been tampered with, he turned around intent to follow Robin's trail… Only to see that Robin was just more or less a foot away from him and was regarding him with a quiet smile.

Wally felt his heart jump, and for some weird reason, it made him defensive.

"What?" the speedster snapped at the still-smiling Robin.

"Nothing." Dick answered, smile turning into an easy smirk. "Just proud to see that  _some_ of our stealth protocols have rubbed-off on you." And then he turned on his hands and knees and started crawling to the other direction.

Wally had no choice but to follow his dear friend while his head was still reeling from the may-or-may-not-be compliment… But hearing that Dick was  _proud_  of him. Wow, he never dreamed it would feel as…elating as this. It was like he was five again and his mom was kissing his cheek for winning his first ever Science quiz bee and his dad was lifting him up on his shoulders, and many of the other kids and teachers were applauding for him.

Dick saying he was proud of him, even if it was with a playful smirk, warmed Wally's heart to impossible degrees as it hammered in his twinge-infested chest… Come to think of it, he never felt  _quite_ that way with his proud parents. But that only served to make Wally want to impress the other boy all the more.

That's when Wally swore that he'd make Robin absolutely proud in this mission. Even if it kills him.

"We're here."

Robin stopped crawling. Somewhere along the way he'd activated his holo-glove and was glancing at it over briefly. Wally saw the blue dot in the center of the display. To their right was another metal grate, and the yummy waft of air floating from there was a tell-tale sign if Wally ever smelt any.

"Kitchen." Wally said, supplying the obvious. But that was okay. He knew Robin was used to him being obvious. He peeked through the metal slits. "I don't see chefs, waiters, or anybody around."

Robin gracefully crouched lower next to Wally and peeked through the metal covering as well… The ache in Wally's chest twisted in a new weird way.

"Yeah, looks that way." Robin said, narrowing his blue eyes and sweeping them from left to right and back again. "All I see are delectable platter-fulls of food." Then he turned and smirked happily at Wally. "Let's raid it."

Wally knew there was a reason why he liked his best friend.

Once they landed on the pristine tiles of the big kitchen, Robin checked the doors and locked it, then walked over to the counter next to the Italian foods. Kid Flash fished a fork from a table and eagerly followed… Wally only noticed the computer when Robin sat in front of it, turned it on, and began typing furiously.

"Aren't we supposed to check the alarms?" Wally asked, but didn't put down his fork. "Or is the latest version of the game Zombies on Catapults installed in there and you haven't told me about it?"

"Don't be ridiculous Wally, like I could ever hide video games from you." Robin snorted, making Wally want to giggle. "And this  _is_  checking the alarm. The alert came from someone accessing highly encrypted files which I missed on my preliminary sweep of this place's data-base."

"Couldn't you just use your glove to scan its drives?" Wally asked, sticking his fork into a tray of lasagna.

"Unfortunately, silk is too thin to hide a wire in." Robin answered, not pausing in his typing. "So until a fully functional computer wire spanning the diameter of no more than eight microns is developed, I have to hack things direct from the source... I give it four, maybe five months."

Wally was half-way through his lasagna when Robin completed his explanation.

"Cool. Maybe use optical wires? Those are pretty thin right? Six microns is pretty standard if I remember correctly." Wally commented, watching Robin work and absently licking his fork clean of pasta.

"Uh-huh, but it's more a problem of sturdiness really." Robin replied and graced Wally with a fleeting glance of his blue, blue eyes. It made the speedster tingly all-over. "So far, actual material choice is leaning towards nano carbontubes. It'll be a fun challenge to find a way to make electronic signals compatible for microchips travel through the carbon structure." And even as Robin continued his current hacking, his eyes lit up the way it always did whenever he talked about innovations.

I love it when he talks techy.

Wally's eyes softened, savoring the moment of simply watching Robin and listening to him chatter about the basic response of the carbontube's cylindrical structure to having electrical pulses run through them…

And then his mind just drifted off again, and Wally thought about how wonderful he was feeling and how nice it would be to make this a regular thing. To have moments just between the two of them and listen to Dick rattle off about stuff others might not appreciate, but Wally would. He always will. Just like how Dick always managed to keep listening to Wally even if all the others lost interest.

Had Wally ever thank Dick for that? For being a great, albeit sometimes sarcastic, listener? And for being… _more_.

Much more.

"Hey, remember my first solo-mission?" Wally asked, just 'cause he felt like it.

"You mean that time you got a big head and refused to report to the Flash about those drug-dealers you've bumped into?" Robin said, pausing a little in his typing to give a standard smirk. "You decided to bust them on your own and they turned their dealings into a  _kidnapping_."

Wally didn't know if it was because he was watching Robin's face intently, but he noticed a flicker of…hurt?—on the shorter boy's expression towards the end before he resumed his typing.

"I was such an idiot back then." Wally said. Robin snorted a hearty agreement. "But it turned out okay, because Uncle Barry came and helped me bust them in the end." Wally smiled as Robin hummed absently. "Then I got a thorough scolding."

"You deserved more punishment than a scolding." Robin said firmly.

"Well, my folks grounded me for two months. And for me, that's like,  _eternity_."

"Dude, to you, the three minutes it takes to cook instant noodles is like, eternity."

"You realize your analogy just worsened my two-month grounding time in perspective, right?" Wally's asked, eyebrow raised.

"You realize I wasn't trying to make you feel better about it, right?" Dick replied calmly, stopping his typing completely to regard Wally with a proper condoning look.

Wally laughed.

"Yeah, that, I understand." He said after his laughter died down. Then Wally's green eyes shifted to the computer in front of Dick. "So, find what you're looking for yet?"

"I cracked the database security two minutes ago. But I had to repair back the firewall so no one would notice." Robin said, turning to the monitor and getting back to typing. "I just need to narrow down the exact file thatwas accessed and triggered the bugs I placed on the mainframe… And here it is."

Wally took that as cue (excuse?) to drop his fork on the empty lasagna platter and slide behind Dick to look at the monitor. After briefly admiring the curve of the other boy's nape, green eyes managed to take in the file displayed at the monitor.

Wally blinked.

"It looks like…a recipe of a cocktail drink."

Barely an inch in front of him, Wally felt Robin tense in a way that meant he was giving a death glare to an equipment that refused to yield the results he wanted.

"This can't be right." Robin muttered, hands flying over the keyboard again, presenting Wally with multiple windows opening, scrolling down, and closing one after another. "My program wouldn't have given an alert for a simple file like this… It  _must_  have some other encryption or—bingo!" The monitor paused to a file with a list of numerous chemicals. "Double encryption on top of a sturdy firewall. Whoever did this really didn't want people opening up this file."

Wally proceeded on reading along as Robin scrolled down the long file. His brow furrowed as they went further down the list.

"Well this is weird." Wally said. "This file belongs to a chemistry lab not a kitchen."

"Yeah, I kind of figured with all the chemical and scientific names." Robin agreed. "Can you make sense of this at all? I only recognize some of the names."

Okay, Robin was asking him for help.  _Be still my beating heart._ It's cool, Wally could totally handle this smoothly… And who knows, maybe he'll impress Robin again.

"Yeah, I'll try." Wally answered and dug his brain for information about the seemingly random mix of chemical compounds on the file. "Okay, this  _really_ is a weird bunch of things to be grouped together… bremelanotide, temazepam, Yohimbine, Phenylquinoline carbonic acid. It's a bunch of contradictions."

"They cancel each other's effects?" Robin asked. Looking adorable and blinking his confused eyes at Wally.

"Uh, not exactly. Their effects are… not of the same nature. At all." Wally pointed to the screen, arm going over and past Robin's shoulder. "There are compounds here popularly used in truth serums—."

"Like the Amobarbital." Robin said. And Wally wasn't even surprised Robin was familiar with truth-drug components.

"And the temazepam, yeah." Wally agreed, "But it doesn't make sense to couple them with things that heighten sensitivity and increase blood-flow like the Yohimbine and bremelanotide. Interrogators usually prefer if the person is sedated. And besides, those compounds are more likely used in the medical field in attempt to cure—uhm, certain kinds of illnesses."

"Ischemia, hemorrhagic shock, and sexual dysfunction." Robin said. And Wally didn't mind that Robin was able to say that with a straight face. Wally was blushing enough for the both of them.

"Y-yeah." Wally cleared his throat. The ache in his chest acting up again. "And there's something about the Phenylquinoline carbonic acid. It's used in treating big animals, but human administration was banned many years ago because it was proven to have poisonous qualities… And really, the further down you scroll, the more compounds of neural biohazards I see."

Robin's brows furrowed deep. "Truth serum, aphrodisiacs, poisons… I think our villain is after more than the traditional money and general mayhem here."

Wally tried to follow Dick's line of thinking… But as soon as the subject moved away from his familiar territory of chemistry, he'd drawn a blank… And that nagging twist in his chest intensifying further wasn't exactly helping.

"Goody." Wally said. Unconsciously leaning forward more, seeking a bit of comfort in Robin's presence.

When Robin leaned back on the swiveling chair and looked straight up at Wally with unblinking eyes, the speedster had to make a conscious effort not to drop his face atop his friend's. Being this close to Dick and looking at each other upside-down twisted his gut in time with his heart's hammering.

"This is serious Wally." Robin said. Lips once again moving in that enthralling manner. "We don't know who the target is, much less how the bad guy plans on administering this—drug."

Wally blinked down at Dick. When it became apparent his best friend was actually waiting for an input from him, he grasped at straws and threw the nearest bunch he could grip. "Wasn't it mentioned in the recipe?"

The redhead watched, fascinated, as blue eyes turned from narrowed in thought to slowly widening in an epiphany.

Wally staggered back as Robin straightened up so abruptly, he whipped his head forward and missed bumping foreheads with Wally only because the speedster remembered to use his powers for the greater good of letting no injury come to his best friend and dodged his own head back.

Unfortunately, the elaborate stunt made Wally lose his balance and topple over; his tushie hit the floor hard, and blood rushed to his head from his own head whipping.

"Wally you're a genius!" Robin exclaimed. "There has to be a connection with that cocktail. Why else would the file be encrypted over  _that_?" he was happily typing away once again.

Wally ignored the ache in his backside and the unusual heavy sense of dizzy vertigo he felt upon falling down, in favor of basking in the compliment Robin just gave him. His hands felt tingly again, and he wanted to reach out and just…

The sudden click of the door unlocking echoed like thunder.

A large figure swiftly pushed inside. Robin had stopped working. He swiveled the chair and stood up in one swift motion, arm raised and pink glove wrapped around metal pellets—smoke bombs— which came out of nowhere.

The young hero never had the chance to use the bombs for proper distraction and cover because the figure that came in grabbed a plate and flung. It flew quickly across the air like a super-charged frizbee and knocked Robin's hand aside. The smoke bombs landed all the way to the other side of the large kitchen, sparking and wobbling, dark fog fizzled at their feet pathetically.

Wally was still sprawled on the floor on his butt. Some part of him screamed that he get up on his feet and focus on the threat that just entered the kitchen, but that part was drowned out by the booming voice in his head that told him to stare incredulously at a wincing Robin rubbing his hand and let his vision fill with red.

"I knew both of you would be nothing but trouble." The person who  _hurt Robin_ said darkly. "Should've disposed of you earlier… But you know what those irresponsible people say; better late than never. Miss Robin Northgale, you're going to have to say hello to your dead mother soon."

Robin's glare turned into sharp ice, but Wally only had a split-second to be morbidly fascinated by that before he was on his feet and charging blindly at the man by the door with an angry yell. With all the G-force and kinetic energy humming in Kid Flash's body as he accelerated, he was sure he would deliver a considerable deal of pain once he tackled the guy to the ground.

And the disappointment Kid Flash felt when the huge guy managed to dodge away at the last minute was monumental… It was topped only by the hurt he felt when he bodily smashed the hard wooden table and it collapsed with him.

" _Metas."_  The person's voice spat out with enough hate to melt steel.

"Wally!" Robin's voice sounded shocked, almost panicked, and…afraid.

Wally decided to let a very reassuring grunt pass his lips to assure his partner he was still alive. He felt that familiar sting that meant bruises was blooming on his body, but he knew they'd only be there a day at most thanks to his super-speed abilities. Although right now, he honestly felt like hell.

"Get away from him!" Robin shouted, sounding fierce and angry… protective. And Wally felt his chest swell again.

The guy snorted, and Wally felt enough of his mobility return allowing him to shift his head and give the best glare his current condition of sprawled in the remains of a table would allow.

The young, harsh face of Melark, head of royal security was grimacing down at Wally.

"Oh don't worry about  _me_  causing more damage to your little boyfriend, Miss Northgale." Melark said, addressing Robin but slimy eyes still raking over Wally. "It looks like this speed-bug is more than capable of damaging himself on his own." At that he gave a very disgusting smirk.

Wally wanted nothing more than to smack Melark's face for that comment, but he felt unexpectedly heavy and drained… Like that burst of righteous fury he felt when Robin was hurt by the big guy was the last of his energy. Too many aches were assaulting him and his muscles felt no different from deflated tires.

Suddenly, a flurry of pink and black was throwing kicks and punches at Melark. It made the hulk of a boy step back as he tried to counter the strikes Robin kept hurling. Robin was making as much space between Wally's prone form and the head of security as possible.

Part of Wally was touched at that, but all the rest of him was afraid of letting Robin take on that huge security-guard.

What if he hurt Robin again?

Well, to Robin's credit, he seemed to be presenting a difficult challenge to Melark. And for a while there, Robin seemed dominating the fight… But then there was a swipe of a long leg that made Robin stagger, shifting the momentum of the fight in favor of Melark.

"You fight well." Melark appraised, throwing a punch Robin almost didn't manage to guard. Wally and Robin both winced. "But you should never underestimate your opponents."

And Robin was mostly on defense now and seemed struggling not to take a step back. He refused to answer Melark with anything other than his silk-covered fists and sharp-heeled kicks… But it seemed Melark was done being the loser that he is.

Melark successfully delivered a kick, and Robin barely turned his stumble into a tuck and roll to dispel the shock. "Now you're to find out first hand why Princess Juhainah's security force is formidable."

And then Melark's stance shifted before he suddenly shot forward and attacked. Robin rolled to the side a spilt-second before the drop kick landed, and the boy in pink wasn't given much time to recover before Melark was letting loose a series of jabs and strikes that looked nothing like any martial arts Wally's seen before, and he was trained by Black Canary.

Robin was struggling on the defensive again, and he managed to block and guard against most of the strikes, but he was being overwhelmed and having difficulties looking for openings to strike back… A backhand swiped Robin and the smaller boy was sent flying to the side with a barely contained yelp.

That did it. Wally managed to get up on his feet and charged again. This time, he couldn't quite manage to call enough speed to have the force of a charging bull, but he told himself he'd make up for it by actually managing to hit his target this time around.

And he did.

"Stop." Wally dug his elbow to the tall guy's pectoral. "Hurting." He swirled and kicked the guy's shin, sadly he didn't topple over. "Robin!" Wally threw a right hook and was immensely glad it hit Melark's jaw.

The satisfaction was cut short when after staggering slightly, Melark's eyes turned to stone and grabbed Wally's still outstretched arm. Wally could do nothing as he was forced into a throw and he landed on his back, hard. He heard the gasp from his lips be echoed by a shell shocked Robin. Melark's shoe made contact with the speedster's side and he skidded through the floor.

"No!" Robin shouted.

Wally had to curl up in pain… It should not have hurt as much as that. It felt like there were acids in his intestines that was stirred by the blow and was now working on melting him from the inside. And his chest was impossibly constricted; it was a wonder how he could gasp as deeply as he was.

"I wouldn't recommend getting up." Melark said, glancing at Wally with cruel indifference. "It spreads faster with physical movement."

"W-wha—?" Wally's confused question was cut-off by his groan as the pain intensified, climbing to his spine and the back of his neck. "Argh!"

"What did you do to him?!" Robin demanded, sounding uncharacteristically panicked again.

"Please don't pretend you have no idea." Melark said calmly, turning to Robin. Wally hated the fact that the giant boy was between Robin and him. Somehow that made all the physical pain worse. "You hacked the files. And to think I thought it was safest to keep them in the kitchen's data-base."

Robin's blue eyes widened with horror.

"Poison." He breathed with dread. And Wally tried to think when he could've taken suspicious substances that would make him writhe like this… But Robin eventually figured it out for him. "The recipe… It's in the punch."

"The very same one served tonight."

" _Why?"_ Robin asked, genuinely at a lost. "Y _ou_  drank that. Everyone probably did. Even the princess—." His blue eyes widened and then narrowed. "She's your target. How could you? She trusts you!"

Then the cold look in Melark's eyes shifted to something  _angry._

"Yes, she trusts me. And she loves me as well. As much as I love her." Melark said "And in a few days, she'll admit to that, like how she'll admit to the other truths, of wanting the crown and—."

"You're after the kingdom?"

"I could care less for that kingdom if Juna wasn't in it!" Melark snarled. "That vile country has always been a bane in my eyes, for how I see Juna always striving hard and improving herself just to meet the standards of those greedy ignorant bastards. And yet after having little to none recognition and appreciation from her own country, she still strives on to love it, enough that she's willing to be placed into a marriage of convenience with another country to form an alliance so flimsy it might as well be made from caked flour."

"There is no news about the Princess Juhainah being married off—."

"Because press can be paid off and media are always looking for things more  _interesting_  than an arranged marriage." Melark sneered. "She could protest against it, but the council knows she pays the country too much importance to risk it. But that would soon change in a few days. Either she'll confess to everything and take the love I give and give hers back or she'll…" He trailed off, with a sad foreboding look shadowing his face.

" _She'd die."_  Wally found himself breathing out. Robin snapped his head to look at him.

The younger vigilante's panic levels were at high again. As if Wally failed to realize that Dick kept on talking with the big bad guy to shift all attention away from Kid Flash and his vulnerable state. But he can't let Robin have all the burn of things just because he was very close to being invalid and his insides were starting to churn in a very funny and interesting, albeit scary way.

"T-the PCA does more than delay the effects of the other chemicals… it will eventually kill her." Wally said, finally seeing the connections.

Robin's gasp of hurt echoed throughout Wally's core. Wally knew what that was for… Because they both knew that Wally's powers made his body different, made it process things faster, which means—

"Right now it's killing you." Melark said, devoid of any concern. Then he walked calmly away.

"Where are you going?" Wally couldn't help but ask, a bit of panic rising in him when the big guy got near Robin who was busy looking stricken to properly defend himself. But Melark just walked past the boy in the pink dress and headed for the door.

"I'm going to take Juna away from here. As head of security, I'll use emergency protocol. This gathering will end soon, and we'll be hundreds of miles away from the continent before sunrise." Then he turned to look at a still grieving Robin. "You can choose to try and stop me, or use the precious little time you have left to say goodbye to your redhead boyfriend."

And then Melark stepped out and the door shut behind him.

No sooner did that happen, Robin was walking with quick, but shaky steps over to Wally's form still dumped on the floor. The speedster couldn't help the painful smile that cracked on his face.

"Robin." Wally said, feeling heavy but happy, because Dick was crouching down beside him, dropping beautifully and cradling Wally's head into his fabric-cushioned lap with shaking fingers.

"Sshh." Dick says, looking down with a sad smile and carding his still trembling fingers through Wally's hair. His other hand reached up to tap the mini-radio in his ear.

"Robin to team. Code Red." Dick said, and waited a few moments, but no reply came. "Robin to team, please respond." Not even static sounded in Wally's own radio.

"I didn't even hear your broadcast on my channel. " Wally said, or slurred. His voice box was sore as the rest of him were.

" _Shit."_  Dick said, and Wally wanted to gape at him for dropping a curse. "Melark must've switched on a signal jammer. Our comm. devices are useless."

"Need to warn them." Wally said, and tried to think in line with the mission, of how they can prevent the heaviest of damage to everyone. "You need to get out of here and—."

"No."

Wally blinked at up Dick.

"But—."

" _No."_  Dick said again, accentuated by the fingers in Wally's hair clutching, but not enough to hurt. "I'm not leaving you. Not when you could…" he choked back the words, " _No_. I won't leave you… We'll figure this out, you won't—you'll be okay. I'm staying with you 'til we figure this out." His other hand dropped down to rest on Wally's frilly chest.

Wally wanted to protest more. Because they're heroes, and they needed to look out for the civilians, the innocent people who depended on them, they had to make sure all of them were safe…

But a more selfish part of Wally pointed out that it takes  _days_  for the poison to take effect on non-speedsters and he didn't know how much time  _he_  had left. And wasn't it justified for a dying guy to want to keep Robin all to himself? If worse comes to worst, he could always just wallow in guilt in the afterlife.

And besides, maybe they'll learn something about the symptoms from his fast-forwarded experience with the weird mixture of poison. That would be somewhat useful right?

"It started… with a weird tug at my chest," Wally began, "right after you smiled… Everything went downhill from there. My heart was beating like crazy each time you so much as looked at me, yet I wanted nothing but your attention. And right now I have this feeling like I'll tell you every secret I have, which won't be much because you know most of them anyway."

"Oh Wally." Dick said, looking down at Wally with scared, sad eyes.

And Wally had to laugh, because everything was so stifling and he wanted to see Dick smile again, even if it made him hurt, because the alternative was beyond excruciating. The alternative was seeing Dick be unhappy.

"Try smiling for me?" the redhead asked weakly. "I… ah. I love your smile." Then Wally blinked his green eyes twice. "Oh, I guess there goes my secret number one."

Dick smiled painfully and his shoulders shook in a shaky laugh.

"Idiot."

"I know." Wally replied with a gently smile. "And I can't believe you put-up with me. I feel like the luckiest guy alive whenever I'm with you."

A soft chuckle, then "Secret number two?" Dick's fingers were starting to tremble in his hair again.

Wally couldn't believe the amount of effort he had to do just to lift his own hand to his chest and close it around Dick's own.

"Remember my first solo-mission?"

Robin's brow drew impossibly further in confusion and concern.

"Wally, you already mentioned that… Are you having memory lapses? Might be another side-effect of the drug." Robin took a breath and carefully asked. "Do you know my name? _"_

" _Richard."_ Wally said softly, feeling Robin shiver, but maybe it was just the drug. "I won't ever forget your name, Richard John Grayson. You're my best friend, Dick. And I've been your fan since I saw you on that blurred TV news, Robin. You never have to worry about me forgetting you. I'd rather die."

"Wally, I…" Dick released a shaky breath. "I'll hold you to that. But since you still know who I am, you're not allowed to die. I forbid it."

"Sounds familiar." Wally laughed softly and met Dick's beautifully confused eyes with a fond smile. "You told me the same thing after my first solo mission."

"Oh, that."

"Yeah… And I never told you this, but I knew that you were the one who called Uncle Barry and asked about me, which lead him to look for me that night." Wally said. "He told me you told him not to tell me, but he told me anyway, so he told me not to tell you he told me, but I'm telling you now anyway… Pretend that made sense."

Dick's sigh sounded a bit like a genuine laugh that time. "Alright, I'll pretend it did. And this doesn't count as a secret, because I knew you knew."

"S-so…" Wally's voice hitched as he hid a wince of hurt he knew Dick saw anyway. "What led to that call that eventually saved me?"

"I just…" Dick began, looked to the side with a splash of red on his cheeks, but hand never retreating from Wally's hair and chest. "You always call… Every night, you call up and talk about your day and somehow make even the most ordinary thing sound crazily interesting." His blue eyes looked back at Wally with a tainted laugh. "You're the reason Alfred had to bump my bedtime a couple hours back, and started forcing me on late afternoon naps before patrol. You didn't seem to realize we live different time-zones. You just kept on calling."

"Then one day I failed to call and you… told on me?" Wally couldn't help the amused tone in his voice.

"I sent you texts. You never replied." Dick said, huffing. "Can you blame me for worrying? You're the fastest boy alive! If you'd been okay, you would've told me so the first chance you got… I called your house, you weren't there, so I asked your Uncle if he'd seen you… and the rest is history."

"Hmm…" Wally hummed, closing his eyes to savor the touch of Dick's fingers still carding through his hair. "I was wondering why you sounded so pissed the next time I saw you."

"Was not." Dick huffed again. "I was perfectly reasonable and calm."

"Dude, you gave me a scolding in level with my mom's." Wally chuckled. "You told me: 'Wally, don't ever go off on your own again without your mentor's consent. I forbid it.' Then you walked out and I had to promise I'll do as you said before you talked to me again."

"I was worried, sue me."

"I like that about you. I like that I can make you worry." A smile crept its way onto Wally's mouth. "Sometimes I wonder if I can make you squirm if I hold a knife to my throat."

"Wally, I know you're high on some drug with a fair amount of truth serum components." Dick said slowly. "But your secret number three sounds a bit…manipulative, sadistic  _and_  masochistic at the same time."

"Maybe I have more mental issues than anyone's aware of." Wally then found out shrugging while his back was on the floor and his head on someone's lap made the action awkward in the least. He didn't care. "I can't be right in the head when I keep picturing your lips on mine."

And then there was silence. Even the glorious nimble fingers running through Wally's hair stilled… The incapacitated speedster waited with baited breath for Dick to remove his hands and move away. When it didn't happen, he chose to open one eye and peek up at his best friend's face.

"In case you were wondering…" Wally began with a self-deprecating smile. "That was secret number four."

Dick's face was unrelentingly unreadable… And Wally didn't know if that was better than the disgusted expression he was expecting. He knew Robin was good at pulling poker faces, but he considered himself a decent enough reader of the looks Dick pulls off to hide his feelings… But now, he couldn't for the life of him figure this one out.

"It's funny." Wally said, if just to break the silence. "I think this look is way scarier on your face than those death glares you copy from Batma—."

And then Wally had to stop talking on account of Dick leaning down and stilling his babbling lips by capturing them in his own.

It was warm… Impossibly warm. And when Dick moved his lips in that insanity-inducing way, Wally couldn't help but shiver and whine. The hand on his chest turned into a fist that clenched hard on his cravat and the one on his hair traveled down to the back of his head, cradling it gently and tilting it back ever so lightly to deepen the kiss.

Wally felt his eyes become heavier and heavier, but he fought to keep them open, long enough to see half-lidded blue eyes filled with enough want to match his own slip closed, making Wally follow suit, feeling more at peace than he did all night.

It felt like it went on forever… But that didn't stop the whimper Wally made when Dick broke the kiss with a gasp. It took a moment for Wally to realize he was panting hard too. Curse air for being a living necessity.

"I won't leave you Wally." Dick said, looking down at him with determined eyes. The younger teen licked his kiss-swollen lips briefly and Wally followed the movement. "I won't let you die either. We'll figure this out."

"Dick…" and Wally felt amazed his voice was steady enough to form words after that ground-breaking lip-lock.

"I can't lose you Wally. I won't" Then Dick smiled and bent down again and laid a soft kiss on Wally's temple. "You'll be okay."

And the way he said it, left Wally no choice but to believe him.

Wally licked his own lips and giggled. "You taste like strawberries."

"Well you taste like lasagna." Dick countered, giving Wally a part fond, part exasperated smile. And then he was back to surveying the room, probably looking for anything useful in the situation.

"I just ate a whole platter; of course I'd taste like lasagna. Like how you taste like strawberries because the last thing you had was that…punch." And then cold fear seized Wally's chest. "Dick, we need to find a cure for this thing. You've drunk it too, and eventually it'll take effect and then you might—."

Dick laid a finger on Wally's lips. "I know, and we'll find a way to cure it before that. So stay calm alright?"

Wally had to nod at the amount of confidence in Dick's voice.

"Good." Dick said, and removed the finger from Wally's mouth and placed it back on his chest. "And it wasn't just me, from what Melark implied, the whole batch was contaminated. And they didn't serve any other refreshments so most of the guests had to have drunk it."

"Oh…" Wally said, gazing into Dick's eyes and enjoying the way the fluorescents gleamed off them. "I thought he was just targeting the princess?"

"Yeah, I wonder about that too… Even  _he_  drank it, so he must have something to counter it. And I don't think he's dumb enough to risk every important kid here being affected by this drug and eventually dying."

"I thought that was why he made sure the drug took long to be effective. To have escape time?"

"But the connections between the victims would still be impossible to miss, and the whole world would be in a buzz." Robin answered. "He must have some plan of clearing things. If all he really wanted was to make the princess admit to her  _"true feelings"_ so she won't marry someone else, he must've made plans to keep outsiders out of his goals."

"Hmm." Wally hummed and twined his fingers with the ones Dick had on his chest. "You'll figure it out."

"Are you telling me you're slacking off the thinking part?" Dick said with a light voice and gently squeezed Wally's weak hand.

"I just thought you'd like that part all to yourself." Wally said with the best grin he could muster. "Solving mysteries is your favorite, right?"

"My…favorite." Dick said slowly, fingers tightening further around Wally's hand.

"Dick?"

"Strawberry is Princess Juhainah's favorite fruit. That's why she chose that flavor for her party's drink." Dick said, sounding like he was talking to himself. "And to be sure the princess would intake the drug, Melark mixed it in the punch… So if he was to spread some kind of antidote, he would've made sure it's in something the princess wouldn't think twice about  _not_  eating, so the drug will stay in her system."

"Great." Wally said. "You won't happen to have a list of foods she's allergic to, would you?"

Dick shook his head. "This is her party, she wouldn't have served anything here she was allergic to. And even if she wasn't in charge of the food, Melark would've kept up appearances of being the head of security and slashed any potential allergens off the menu."

"What do we base our antidote hunting then?" Wally asked. "The princess's taste buds?"

"Exactly." Robin answered, head once again turning this way and that, eyes sweeping around the kitchen for…something.

"I don't get it." Wally said honestly, because he still wasn't capable of lying to Robin, and in general.

"Earlier, the princess told me that she loves strawberries."

"Yeah, I think we've established that dude." Wally answered with a blink.

"Uh-huh, but she also said she tends to shy away from them when they're baked into pastries." Robin replied. "And I noticed earlier that practically every muffin, tart, and cake in this place is pink. No prize for guessing what's baked inside them."

"Strawberries." Wally answered.

"And the antidote, if my deduction is correct. Hopefully it is." Dick looked down at him. "Wally, I'm going to have to search around a bit. You need to stay here for a while on your own, okay?"

Wally managed to marginally tighten his grip on Dick's hand in fear of being left. Dick just squeezed back firmly. Wally took a deep breath and nodded.

"Okay."

"Good. I'll only be gone for twenty, thirty seconds tops," Dick said with a wide, reassuring smile. "Don't fall asleep. Count out loud so we know how much time's passed, okay?"

Wally nodded again.

"Good." Dick lifted their entwined hands and laid butterfly kisses on Wally's hand from his fingers, to his knuckles, to his wrist. Wally's heart was back to hammering again and his face felt aflame once more. "Stay strong for me."

Wally's answer was a deep sigh and a dazed nod.

Wally heard something ripping, and later he realized it was Robin's dress getting maltreated and shred… The Boy Wonder bundled the bunch of fabric to pillow Wally's head in absence of his lap and leaned down to touch his lips to Wally's cheek before standing up.

Robin's dress was cut unevenly short just over his knees and he was looking down at Wally with another unreadable look. But Wally was happy to realize he could see through that look now. It was Dick gazing at him with stone determination and all the care in the world at the same time.

"Start counting Wally." Dick said.

He breathed in, let it out, and began.

"One, two, three…"

Dick was already running off.

_Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…_

Wally knew he should at least try to keep track of Dick running around in the big kitchen, but he was moving fast and Wally felt like he couldn't do fast right now. Everything was throbbing with hurt again, now that Robin wasn't near him to provide wonderful distractions.

_Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen…_

His mind started wondering, back to times when he felt happy, maybe to try and provide himself with his own distraction… A smile formed on his lips when he replayed what it felt like answering the winning question to that Science quiz bee. He wondered if Dick would've cheered for him if they'd already been friends then. Maybe he'd have even hugged Wally.

_Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…_

He remembered joining the track team, just so he could use the school grounds for running whenever he felt like it. Back when he didn't have his powers, he enjoyed pushing himself to go as fast as he can, making himself believe he'd be good enough to work with the Flash if he just tried hard enough… And by then, everyone knew kids can fight crime too. Robin's debut in Gotham was met with many talk and flashing cameras. Wally was never more excited about vigilante news that didn't involve his scarlet idol.

_Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one…_

Eventually, his genius paved the way for him acquiring his powers, and soon, he was running around with his Uncle, saving Central and Keystone. His favorite mission to date was that time they had to come to Gotham to help the Dynamic Duo drive out a lunatic meta-wannabe who kept trying to harness the power of lightning for inane things… He got to meet and partner-up with Robin. He was sure his buzzing was a tell-tale sign of how star-struck he was. But Robin just grinned and worked with him like he was a…friend.

_Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four…_

That afternoon they spent eating strawberries on his porch was after the night Robin told him his real name. It was a shock to open the door to a boy wearing stylish casual clothes and flashing shy blue eyes at him while thrusting out a basket-full of big strawberries. He smiled and let his newest friend in… It took no time at all to dispel the hesitation Dick brought in with him and soon they were talking and laughing and stuffing themselves with strawberries drowned in whip cream. Somehow they fell asleep on the porch and Wally woke up later to find the skies darkening and his shoulders pillowing his best friend's head. He watched Dick stir, lean closer, and flutter his eyes open… He thought he could get used to seeing the other teen wake up beside him.

_Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven…_

Wally never bothered with labeling the things he felt for Dick, because he was always caught in living in those moments to think about why he was feeling them, or much less what it could mean except that he was happy with Dick… And as long as he wasn't being a bother, as long as Dick was willing to spend time with him, talk and laugh with him, he decided he'll always be at his side. If it was love, Wally could honestly say he wasn't surprised. Dick is an easy person to fall in love with.

_Twenty-eight…_

Everything was slowing down, and Wally could see a super8-esque version of his life playing over his eyelids… Most of them were filled with streaks of red and yellow, and dabs of black, and red with tones of blue… such a pretty shade of blue

_Twenty-nine…_

The only regret Wally had of dying now was failing to recognize how he felt about Dick before all of this. How pathetic was he to need a death-love-truth drug to realize he had feelings for his best friend? Really, he deserved to be smacked upside the head in the after-life.

Well, at least they found out what the antidote was and Dick could take it and then he'd be cured… And Wally couldn't be happier about knowing Dick will live on… Even if it would be without him.

_Thirty._

.

.

.

―X―X―X―

_

Death felt suffocating.

His head felt heavy and his lungs were screaming in protest.

Like someone stuffed his mouth and shoved something down his throat and covered his nose…

The only choice his instinct had left was to swallow down the block lodged in his esophagus.

And then he was coughing, spluttering, and gasping; throat burning and eyes watering; typical reactions of a choking person…

An  _alive_ , choking person.

He snapped his eyes open and was greeted by harsh light. Which thankfully didn't look like it came from the end of a tunnel… When his dilated pupils adapted and shrank, he saw Dick.

Dick, who gripped a tray of cupcakes in one hand.

Dick, who was supporting Wally's back with his other arm.

Dick, who was looking down at him with a smile on his lips and tears in his eyes…

"Are those for me?" Wally asked in a whisper.

Dick, who promptly dropped the tray of cupcakes to hug Wally hard with both arms.

"Don't  _ever_  do that again _._ " Dick ordered, clutching Wally tighter.  _"I forbid it."_

And Wally found strength returning to his arms, which he used to put his arms around the other teen's waist and return Dick's hug as best as he could… It was a nice hug; full of warmth, relief, and desperation. It made Wally feel welcome, important, and…

And loved.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Wally murmured in the crook of Dick's neck and shoulders. "I promise."

He felt Dick tremble and bury himself closer against the speedster. His scent was a very familiar thing to Wally by then and as thankful as he was not to have bursts of headaches every time he breathed in his best friend's unique aroma, he was glad to find it made his heart warm up and pound stronger in his chest all the same.

"I thought you were  _gone_ …" Dick whispered, sounding shaken beyond fear. "You had your eyes closed and you were lying so  _still_ … so very still." The strong arms on Wally's shoulders trembled and gripped harder. The face buried in his collarbone sniffed. "I thought you left me."

Wally's heart clenched and he tightened his own embrace.

"I'm _here_." Wally said, snaking his arms up Dick's side 'til his palms found the wet tracks on the younger teen's face. He gently lifted Dick's face off his chest and bowed so their temples were touching instead. "I'm  _right_  here." He said, looking straight to glistening blue eyes, striking against eyeliner and mascara. He softly thumbed off the tears on his best friend's face. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Dick swallowed and tried to hunch in on himself, tried to get away from Wally's eyes on his own. Wally held him firmly right where he was… He won't let Dick run away and hide. Not this time. Not when Wally made the decision to stop ignoring his own feelings.

"O-okay." Dick finally answered with a slight nod. He stopped shifting his eyes away and turned forward to nestle his forehead securely against Wally's.

They both sat there, gazing at each other and just relishing the fact they're together. Their breaths mingled, and soon, Dick's sharp inhales evened out to normal.

"I'm sorry." Wally whispered.

"You already said that." Dick replied.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Okay, I'll stop."

"Good."

Wally watched Dick. How his shoulders was now void of any tension, how his lips formed that slight smile of content, and how his bright eyes are looking back at him with unbelievable clarity despite all the tears on them earlier. Wally searched himself, reached deep and triple-checked. Nothing's changed. And he knew for sure now.

"I love you."

It was frightening how easily Dick's demeanor changed. His shoulders tensed, looking moments away from drawing in, his lips turned into a tight line, and hesitation clouded his eyes…

"Wally, you can't mean—."

"I do mean it." Wally said, squeezing his palms to stop the other teen from talking and briefly enjoying the funny sight of Dick's soft cheeks smushed between them. "I really do. It's not just some drug-induced hallucination. That thing was just a trigger that sped up my realization… My feelings are  _real_  Dick."

The hesitation in Dick's eyes became tinged with fear, and he refused to talk back…But the way he hadn't stood up and bolted out the door yet spoke volumes to Wally.

The redhead grinned reassuringly.

"You don't have to answer me back right now." Wally said, leaning his forehead forward and pushing Dick's head back a couple of centimeters. "And I guess it's just fair to warn you not to expect me backing off easily even if you answer negatively, because I'm tired of ignoring and putting things off… And you don't need to look out for me apologizing about my feelings either, because falling for you is the best thing that's happened to me, in like,  _ever._ "

Dick finally opened his mouth.

"Wally, I don't—."

"Lie."

Blue eyes narrowed in a mock glare. Wally kept on grinning.

"I can't—."

"Lie." Wally called out. "Again."

Dick sighed in exhausted defeat. He shut his eyelids tight and Wally waited for them to open up again. When they did, they said a million things at once.

"I don't think I'm ready."

Wally tried his best to make his grin look as understanding and adoring as he felt.

"That's okay." Wally replied. "I'll be right here. I'll wait."

Dick's eyes turned hurt.

"Wally, the  _three minutes_  it takes to cook instant noodles is like,  _eternity_  to you." Dick said with a pained smile. "You're not going to wait long."

"For you I will." And Wally said that with all the determination he could muster, and then some. "It won't be too hard to make an exception for you Dick."

"Why?" And if Dick's tone wasn't challenging, Wally didn't know what to call it.

"Because I love you, duh."

It really was amazing to see red bloom across Dick's face. Maybe Wally should include 'make Dick blush' in his life's mission. The other hero looked itching to fidget in place.

"You really look cute when you're flustered."

"Wally!" and the blush intensified wonderfully.

"What?" The speedster chuckled. "I just confessed my love to you. Twice. I think I'm entitled to calling you cute every now and then."

"If you ever call me that in front of anyone, I'll make you regret it." Dick threatened.

"I'll try to keep that in mind, but no promises." Wally replied and Robin growled. "It's the best I can offer," then his green eyes narrowed into an evil smile, " _babe._ "

Dick growled harder before he pounced and started kissing the life out of Wally. The redhead welcomed him with a laugh. And since he was still holding Dick's face in his hands, he had the power to forcefully tilt the other boy's head, just so, and coax those wonderful lips open, and then he was tasting a myriad of flavors uniquely  _Dick._

The moan against his mouth was absolutely delicious, that Wally was distracted enough and he didn't realize what Dick's tongue pushing hard against his own really meant, until both were inside his mouth. Dick didn't take kindly to being manhandled and was retaliating with brute force Wally found absolutely…endearing. Wally answered by sucking on the foreign appendage in his mouth, Dick whimpered and positively melted.

They broke apart much later, both panting and blushing furiously. Somehow his hands went from Dick's face to his nape and waist, and Dick's hands were clutching the back of Wally's tailcoat in an unforgiving crumple. Wally felt absolutely winded and hyped up… Not bad for a second kiss.

"Call me that again," Dick seethed, obviously referring to the 'babe' comment, "and I break your jaw."

" _Noted."_  Wally huffed with a smile. Filing away the fact that Dick didn't specify the  _method_  he was going to use to break his jaw. "And, not to say I don't enjoy our time here bonding over my spilled guts and making out on a very romantic kitchen tiled-floor… But maybe we should take a peek outside and see if Melark already took the princess away?"

The way Robin's shoulders jumped confirmed Wally's guess that the other hero did forget about their mission after he had resuscitated Wally. And the speedster was infinitely touched at that… It made his chances with Dick look a lot more positive.

"Are you okay now?" Robin asked as he started pushing up to stand on his feet.

"Yeah, I think that rock-hard cupcake did the trick." Wally said, also on his feet and testing out his senses. "I think the antidote acts faster than the drug. I already feel close to a hundred percent."

"Good, then we can look for the Team and report…mission-related happenings." Robin said, shifting his eyes to the side and blushing a bit.

"No telling them we kissed twice. Got it." Kid Flash said, and grinned when Robin turned to look at him. "You may be shocked at this, but I don't kiss and tell, Rob."

Dick smiled softly at him and his gaze turned fond and grateful. "Then let's go."

Robin took a step but Wally grabbed his hand to stop him going further. Dick raised an eyebrow and Wally had to scratch his head as he formulated how best to say what he was going to say.

"Uh, I think we need to make a stop-over in a bathroom first or something." Wally began, and was met with a more questioning look. "You remember saying your mascara isn't waterproof? It kind of…ran and smudged..." Robin's eyes widened. "And I think I may have made it worse when I swiped your cheeks." Wally winced, trying to smile sheepishly.

He knew for a fact that the last thing Dick wanted was to be seen as weak, and if their teammates saw that stained face, black mascara following the path of dried tears… Dick won't be whelmed. So Wally knew he had to warn Robin about that… The only problem was that in doing so, he'd reminded Dick that he'd shed tears for Wally, and as much as that made Wally happy, he didn't want to risk reminding his best friend of a potential weakness tied to him.

Wally wasn't stupid, contrary to popular belief. He knew part of the reason Dick was so adamant about not answering back his feelings was because he somehow saw strong emotions as possible weakness… Robin always strived to keep things light, not overthinking to avoid unwanted struggles. The acrobat was more adept at making snap-decisions about the mission and other's welfare, than he was in making ground-breaking ones concerning his own life. And he worked hard to be seen as someone deserving of respect. So he avoided looking weak as much as possible.

And Wally wanted to avoid being seen by Dick as Robin's weakness as much as possible too.

Instead of the angry outburst Wally was sure would come, Dick just sighed and stepped closer. One of his hand snaked inside Wally's coat and the taller teen squeaked and started, but he didn't pull away. After a moment of rummaging inside Wally's coat, Robin pulled his hand out with a laced handkerchief.

"Where did that come from?"

"Alfred always places handkerchiefs in the right inside-pocket of every coat he makes me wear." Robin answered, handing Wally the somehow, still neatly folded fabric. "Of course mine doesn't have laces." He was back to being a wisecracker it seemed.

An open invitation to dispel any and all awkwardness. Robin may not realize it himself, but he was fond of making easy-outs for Wally most times… And that just served to make Wally love him more.

"God forbid they have laces. They'll clash with your nice-boy look."

Dick just snorted. "Help me clean up." He said instead and started walking further inside the kitchen. "I saw a sink over here earlier when I was ransacking the place for pink cakes."

Wally followed suit with the hankie in one hand…

_

―X―X―X―

-

A few minutes later, both of them were walking down the service-corridor leading out of the kitchen and Wally's pocket now housed a damp, stained, laced handkerchief.

"Something's not right." Robin mused aloud, still managing to look like royalty in a dress tattered and ripped from the knees below. And thanks to Kid Flash's efforts, his face now looked relatively free of runny mascara.

"What is it?" Wally asked. His knew he didn't look half as regal as Robin, with his coat crumpled to impossible degrees and his hair mussed beyond belief, from both when Dick was carding through them when he was nearly-dying and when they started kissing. Hard.

"It's too quiet." Robin said.

"Hmm." Wally thought about it for a second. "Maybe Melark ordered the kitchen off-limits? He did leave us there and he wanted to buy time to take the princess away without interruptions."

"Well yeah, but we're already far from the kitchen." Robin said, walking faster, eager to get out of the quiet service corridor.

"Want me to run us to the nearest guest-hall?" Wally asked with a bit of hesitation. What if Robin didn't want to be carried around anymore?

But Robin just readily slipped behind Kid Flash and wound his arms over the speedster's shoulders. Wally took no time in crouching and hooking the other boy's smooth legs over his arms, effectively lifting Robin in a piggyback.

"Are you sure you can run now?" Dick asked.

"Pretty positive." Answered Wally and took off in a burst of speed, relishing the way Robin's arm tightened around him and the way he pressed closer.

Wally stopped in one of the many decorated hallways, just a few yards away from the foyer. The empty foyer.

"Guess now we know why it's so quiet." Robin said, slipping off Kid Flash's back.

They both stood in the middle of the hallway and walked the rest of the way over the empty foyer. There was no sign of other people. Not even the medical personnel were there.

"Where's everyone?" Wally turned to see Robin with his eyes closed in concentration.

Robin snapped his eyes open "Meg's not answering." He said. "We should be well in her range from here."

A familiar fear crawled up Wally spine. He tried to shake it off… Their teammates were fine. Even if they've drunk that punch, they weren't speedsters; it would take days for the poison to take effect on regular humans… Okay, so one out of four of them was a regular human, and Wally had to admit he didn't know much about the biological physiology of Martians, Atlanteans and Kryptonians to know how they'd react to any chemicals.

"They're fine." Wally said, trying to convince himself to believe it.

"We'll find them." Robin said, sounding better than Kid Flash's half-scared conviction. Then he gave a small smile. "Give me another lift?"

"Where to?" Wally asked, after lifting Robing up his back again.

"Main hall. That's connected to the main entrance. If there's any guest left, they'll be there." Robin answered. "And the rest of the Team would make protecting civilians their priority."

"Got it." Wally said, and after making sure Robin was secure on his back, he burst off in speed towards the main hall.

Three seconds later the big doors to the main-hall was in sight. Wally wasted no time slipping inside it and…

Skidding to a stop because a pointy arrow was barely an inch from his forehead.

"Woah!Hey!Watchit!" Wally shouted, stepping back and automatically bringing a hand in front of his face. "You'll put someone's eye out, Arty!"

The young woman dressed in the tight red gown pointed her collapsible bow and arrow down to regard Wally with a shocked look that soon turned into a relieved smile.

"Kid Flash! We were wondering where you went. The radios are useless and Miss Martian couldn't get hold of you or Robin." The archer said. "And speaking of that, have you seen Robin?" Her blue-gray eyes shifted to the person strapped to Wally's back, and she blinked. "Who's she? Did you find her outside? I thought Aqualad and I already gathered the guests here."

Wally gaped at her. She didn't know Robin was—? Well, yeah, the guy left ahead of them and the others didn't see him before this, so they weren't aware Robin was dressed as a girl… And based on the tightening of Robin's hands on his shoulders, the Boy Wonder would like to keep it that way.

"This is Miss Northgale, I found her wandering in the service corridor." Wally lied to Artemis, carefully letting Robin off his back. "Where are the others?"

"Aqualad and I are the only ones here." Artemis said, looking around the main hall where a bunch of kids in fancy clothes were sitting on the ground and looking none-too-happy about it. "When we realized the radios were jammed, Aqualad sent Miss Martian and Superboy out to alert the JL and ask for back-up…"

"They made it out safe, right?" Wally asked.

Artemis nodded. "But the minute they were gone, the head of security mouths off about some emergency and takes the princess away with him, and every security personnel and staff followed. We were about to pursue, but then the whole place was put in lock-down and we had to play 'calm the heck down' with the crowd of rich brats."

"Lock down?" Robin asked softly… Artemis looked hard at him, but didn't seem to see what she was looking for.

"All exits out of the building are blocked. We're technically locked in." Artemis answered, but maybe she thought the frown in Robin's face was fear or something so she continued "Until Superboy and Miss Martian return with back up. Don't worry, we'll keep you safe."

"Thank you." Robin said with big eyes and small voice. Wally hurt himself from keeping the laughter in.

"It's our job." Artemis answered with an uncharacteristically soft smile.

See? Everyone likes Robin. Even if they don't know it was Robin they were talking to, they're still nice to him.

"Where's Aqualad?" Wally asked, to distract himself from wanting to laugh.

"He's making last rounds outside to see if there are any more guests out there. He should be back in a couple of minutes." Then Artemis looked at Wally straight in the eye "Where's Robin?"

"He's…" Wally thought hard for an excuse. "He's in the…kitchen."

" _Kitchen_?" Artemis said, eyebrow cocked.

"Yeah,  _kitchen_." Wally said, more firmly this time. "We found a computer there with some fishy files and he's hacking through it. Also, he's trying to find a way to bypass the signal jammer. He'll contact us when he's done with that."

"Uhm, do you have everyone on the guest-list accounted for?" Robin interrupted them quietly, maybe to throw Artemis off of looking for him.

"Aqualad's getting the guest list from the foyer as we speak. We'll do a roll-call then." Artemis answered. "You're not missing someone are you?"

"No, I came alone." Miss Northgale answered. "I just hate the thought of anyone being out there on their own."

Artemis looked over the supposed-girl from head to toe and her eyes widened into shock again at really seeing the state of her clothing for the first time. "What happened to you? You're dress is all ripped! Did someone do anything bad to you?" At that she turned a burning glare at Wally.

"Hey! I didn't do anything!" Wally dodged.  _We just made out once or twice, but it was totally consensual!_  The glare didn't relent.

The speedster was saved from defending himself from the wrath of a protective feminist when a high pitched noise came from the door shut from the outside. Kid Flash looked at Robin's own narrowed eyes as he recognized what that noise was.

"Get back from the doors!" He yelled and ran to grab a couple of kids who've been intrigued by the noise away from the doors.

Another second later and the high tone turned into three urgent beeps before a small explosion cracked open the metal shutters covering the door.

Aqualad came running through the other side of the room from the direction of the foyer, he had the first few buttons of his jacket undone to free his gills and his water-bearers were in full-combat mode. Wally wasn't particularly observing, but he noticed the first thing Kaldur did when he came busting in was search the room with frantic eyes, and they only settled into their normal calm silver state when they landed on Artemis.

"Is everyone alright?" their Atlantean leader asked, quickly running to Wally and Artemis's sides. The three of them were facing the newly exploded door and trying to keep the guests back.

Robin wasn't far off behind Wally.

"No one got hurt in the explosion." Artemis answered, narrowing her eyes through the smoke lazily billowing from the crack on the front doors. "But we don't know yet if the ones on the other side are hostiles or friendlies."

 _/We're friendlies!/_ Came the familiar mental-voice of Megan inside Wally's head. From the looks on everyone else's shocked face, she broadcasted her message to the whole room.

And then Conner emerged from the hole in the door, looking like he'd been chased with guns and bullets from the tiny holes in his tux. M'gann floated in right behind him, changed out of her white dress to the covert-version of her uniform.

"Guys! You came back!" Wally exclaimed the obvious with a wide grin.

M'gann smiled back at all of them, while Conner smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We brought reinforcements too." Superboy said and jerked his head toward the new figure emerging from the still-smoking opening.

"Batman." The whisper came from Robin, and was quiet enough Wally was sure he and Conner were the only ones who heard.

The Dark Knight in all his looming glory stepped closer to the three heroes in front of the rich kids who were now chattering amongst themselves. His head swept slowly from left to right, no doubt taking in every detail in that single look. His gaze seemed to linger a couple of nano-seconds longer on Robin, who was standing behind Kid Flash.

Wally wondered if Batman would take Robin's ruined dress as a sign someone 'did something bad' to him too, like Artemis did… He prayed Bats won't.

"Report." Batman said simply, and it instantly brought him, Artemis and Kaldur into attention, straightening their backs and lowering arms to their sides.

"Princess Juhainah was taken away by her own head of security. We failed to pursue because of a sudden lock-down." Aqualad said. "We lost contact with Robin and Kid Flash because of a signal jammer. The last thing Robin reported was that they were heading for the kitchen to investigate some of the bugs he placed on their data-base finding something unusual. After lock-down, Artemis and I gathered the guest here in the main hall while waiting for Superboy and Miss Martian's return with back-up, or until we figure out a way to get out ourselves."

"Is everyone accounted for?" Batman asked. Which incidentally, happened to be what Robin asked too.

Kaldur pulled out a clipboard from his jacket. "I just got the guest list from the foyer. We were planning to make a roll call, before you arrived."

"Do it." Batman said, then he turned back to Conner and Megan. "Help your team with making sure everyone's alright. Take note of any damage and report them to me later." Then he stepped forward until he was closer to the crowd of kids behind the three teen-heroes, just right beside Robin. "Your respective homes are being notified of this hitch in the event as we speak. They'll come for you."

Sighs of reliefs and cheers of delight filled the room.

"Get to work." Batman ordered the Team and they flew into action.

Wally only noticed later, when he was leading a boy with a black eye he got from the sudden panic earlier to his cooing older sister, that the Dark Knight had vanished from the room… And so had Robin. All the others were busy in their tasks to have had noticed the same thing.

Five minutes later, the roll call was complete with all the names in the guest list accounted for, and then Batman and Robin were there in the room again, standing nonchalantly as if they've been there all along. Robin was back in his uniform, minus the cape, and Wally was glad to see his best friend back in a get-up he looked handsomely-dashing in.

"The whereabouts of Princess Juhainah is currently being tracked by the League, leave that matter to us. Robin told me he found files in the data-base about a drug that slowly and surely kills its victims, among other side-effects." Batman said to the Team, who all turned shocked eyes to the Boy Wonder. "It was mixed in with the punch, which means everyone's potentially infected with it."

"But don't worry guys." Robin said with a beautiful grin. "We know what the antidote is."

"Of course you do." Wally said with a smirk. "You're just that awesome."

"That, I am." Robin replied and gave a show-bow with a flourish.

And then they both laughed and it was one the best moments of Wally's life. The others just looked at them with varying degrees of confusion. It just made them laugh harder.

"If you two are going to be laughing the whole while, you're exempt from this briefing." Batman said in his rough voice.

"Roger that." Robin replied with a flimsy salute and grabbed Wally's arm and pulled him away.

"You change fast." Wally told Robin, as they walked some distance away.

"I didn't want them to see me in  _that_." Dick answered. "Why'd you think I asked Batman to send me here ahead of you guys and picked you as my partner?"

"I'm honored."

"You should be."

"So you reported to Bats everything?"

"Yep. Everything from us finding out about the poison and Melark admitting to his intentions about the princess and me saving you from your strawberry juice incident."

"That sounds a bit… incomplete to me."

"Want me to tell him you're responsible for that rip in my previous garb?"

"Nope, I'm fine with him not knowing everything."

"Thought you might say that." Robin said and laughed, sounding like his smug self.

Wally took the chance of watching his best friend with another carefree smile and absolute confidence radiating from him. He knew there would be a smile on his face and hunger in his eyes whenever he did this from now on, but he couldn't be bothered by it.

"I'm still not giving up you know." Wally said.

"I know." Dick answered with complete understanding.

"I'll still be waiting."

Dick sighed, but he looked back up with a smile.

"I know."

"And I won't let you run away from this. Because I know you know there's something there. There always has been."

And Dick looked up straight at him, and even with the mask, Wally could feel those eyes looking through him, taking him in, everything at once.

"I know." Dick said with a small smile.

"Good." Wally pictured he must be mirroring the smile on his lips. "Because I don't want you saying I never warned you."

"You warned me plenty." Dick answered. "And I'll accept your challenge, if you'll accept mine."

"Dude, I'm always up for a challenge."

"Good." Dick said with a smirk. "Because I don't want  _you_  saying I didn't warn you." And then he laughed his creepy cackle and jogged over to where Batman was almost finished with briefing the Team.

Wally shook his head with a smile and followed after Dick. Because he'll always follow after him.

"What do we do with the guest who've drank strawberry punch tonight?" Wally heard Kaldur ask Batman, so the Atlantean would be ready to comply with the order right away. Wally joined the line-up of teenaged heroes, walking right up beside Robin.

Batman turned to briefly look at the kids lined up and waiting for their guardians to come pick them up. The Dark Knight turned back to regard the Team with a haunting look. The Caped Crusader opened his mouth and the teens tensed as they waited for their commander's verdict.

"Let them eat cake."

 

 

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End

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All Scientific/Technical/Chemical tidbits from this chapter came from the good 'ol internet. (Except for the standard cross-sectional area of the fiber optic cable, which I actually learned from one of my classes.) So yeah, I don't know anything else much about the other stuff I've looked up to make this chapter the least bit convincing, other than their names and general usage.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading.


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